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Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2022 with funding from 
Princeton Theological Seminary Library 


https://archive.org/details/idealsofstfranci00feld 


IHE IDEALS 
OF 

ST. FRANCIS 

OFASSISI 





St. FRAnNcIsS oF ASSISI 


NOFPRI 
N MED 
5” AN?T 1326 
So 
Lea Ogicar sew 






THE IDEALS OF 
ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI 


HILARIN ‘FELDER, O.M. Cap. 


TRANSLATED BY 


BERCHMANS 'BITTLE, O.M. Cae. 


PREFACE BY 


JAMES J. WALSH, M. D., LL.D. 


REVISED BY THE AUTHOR FOR THE 
ENGLISH EDITION 





BENZIGER BROTHERS 


New York, CINCINNATI, CHICAGO 


BENZIGER BROTHERS 


PRINTERS TO THE HOLY APOSTOLIC SEE 


1925 


APPROBATIO ORDINIS 


Cum opus cui titulus Die Ideale des hl. Franziskus aR.P. 
Hilarino a Lucerna, Ordinis nostri in Provincia Helvetica 
Predicatore et Lectore compositum et a duobus eiusdem 
Ordinis Theologis recognitum et probatum fuerit, praesentium 
virtute annuimus, ut prefatum opus typis demandari et 
publici iuris fieri possit, servatis tamen ceteris de iure servandis. 


Datum Rome, e Curia Nostra Generali, 
die 20. Iulii 1923. 


IosEpHUs ANTONIUS 
Minister Generalis 





Smprimi Potest. 
Benno a METTENn, O. M. Cap. 


-ntst Lah SE 
Hihil Obstat. Minister Provincialis 


ArTHUR J. ScanLan, 5. T. D. 


Censor Librorum 
Imprimeatur. 


Patrick CarDINAL Hayes 
Archbishop of New York 


NEw York, September 8, 1925. 


COPYRIGHT, 1925, BY BENZIGER BROTHERS 
Prinied in the United States of America 


PREFACE 


this magnificent addition to the large body of 

literature on St. Francis in English, The Ideals of 
St. Francis of Assisi by Father Felder, should come from 
the press so opportunely just as we are entering upon the 
celebration of the seven-hundredth anniversary of the 
death of St. Francis. Ours, as everyone is willing to 
confess, is a material age and there probably never was a 
time when men needed to have emphasized for them the 
ideals of St. Francis so much as at the present moment. 
Our generation centers its interests mainly in this worldli- 
ness on happiness, comfort and success from a worldly 
standpoint. I need scarcely say that the one supremely 
characteristic element in St. Francis’ interests and ideals 
was other-worldliness. Somehow or other this little man of 
Assisi who forgot about himself and thought only of others 
and was about as far as it is possible to conceive from 
the individualism of our time, won the hearts not only of 
his own generation but also of succeeding generations so 
that the world will not willingly forget him. There is 
probably no one not known because of his political or 
military glory who is so widely familiar to mankind as St. 
Francis of Assisi, though he loved to describe himself as 
the Little Poor Man of God. 

Nothing is more surprising than the fact that there 
should be so much of interest in St. Francis in our time 
since his ideals represent such a contradiction to those that 
are popular now. It is hard indeed to understand how in 
this twentieth century, seven centuries after his death, St. 
Francis is written about more enthusiastically than per- 

Vv 


IN sis tse could be more appropriate than that 


vi PRE PACS 


haps any other man who has lived during the intervening 
period. There are more lives and sketches of him, above 
all more references to him in literature, than to anyone 
else who has lived these seven hundred years, and, most 
curious of all, that interest is increasing and not diminish- 
ing. Scarcely a year of the twentieth century has passed 
that has not seen the publication in some language or 
country of some important book embodying a complete 
tribute or at least a partial contribution to the life of the 
merchant’s son of Assisi whose father was almost in 
despair because his boy was such an idealistic, such a hope- 
lessly impractical, individual. Probably no one would be 
more surprised than St. Francis himself over the fact that 
educated men in every part of the world, many of them 
in parts of the world of which he knew nothing and 
scarcely even dreamed, should be interested in his life 
seven centuries after his death. 

We have grown somewhat accustomed to multiple 
centenary celebrations during the twentieth century. Some 
five years ago we had the unprecedented spectacle of a 
world-wide celebration of the six-hundredth anniversary 
of the death of Dante. Probably never before did the 
educated world unite so cordially in the celebration of an 
anniversary, for we feel that Dante, in Ruskin’s phrase, 
is “the central man of all the world,” possessing in 
the highest degree the intellectual qualities of the race. 
During the preceding decade Oxford invited the scholars 
of the world to come to Oxford, not far from his birth- 
place, to celebrate the seven-hundredth anniversary of the 
birth of Roger Bacon. I think that it is perfectly clear 
that neither of these men had anything like the wide ap- 
peal to the sympathy of humanity as St. Francis. Dante 
himself was very proud to be a member of the Third 
Order of St. Francis and was probably buried as one of 
the lay sons of the Assisian. Roger Bacon was a mem- 
ber of the Franciscan Order and doubtless owed his 
education and his opportunities for study which have 


PREFACE Vil 


given him his name and fame in the modern world to his 
connection with the Franciscans. Both of these cele- 
brations serve to reflect glory on St. Francis and add to 
the distinction with which he is regarded by the world 
because of the opportunity that he afforded to so many to 
make life a worthier thing than it could possibly have been 
if they were occupied mainly with worldliness. Neither 
of them, however, aroused anything like the popular ap- 
peal that the Centenary of St. Francis is manifestly to 
bring with it. 

Very probably the most surprising feature of all in the 
preparations that are now being made for the appropriate 
celebration of the St. Francis Centenary, is the fact that 
our generation seems to be more interested in St. Francis 
than almost any preceding generation. His favorite idea 
in life was the love of poverty, so that the loftiest symbol 
of his career was his mystical marriage with Holy Poverty. 
That surely is the last thing in the world the people of 
our time have any inclination for. While governor of 
New York, Mr. Hughes once said, “The main occupation 
of men in our day seems to be the raising of a corruption 
fund for their children.” We have learned to appreciate 
better than before how much of harm has been wrought 
to growing youth during the dozen years that have passed 
since that was said. The spirit which made St. Francis 
of Assisi choose the Lady Poverty for his bride and de- 
lighted to call himself I! poverello di Dio, “the little poor 
man of God,” would seem to be entirely too impractical 
and utterly idealistic to have any particular appeal for 
our time. And yet literally more than a score of impor- 
tant lives of St. Francis have been written during the 
twentieth century, and our interest is growing, not wan- 
ing. Weare beginning to wake up to a realization of the 
fact that “things are in the saddle and ride mankind,” ' 
and that things seem ever so much more important than 
thoughts, though it requires no special intelligence to 


Vili PREFACE 


understand what an utter contradiction of real values any 
such state of mind represents. 

Not long before his death Mr. William James, professor 
of psychology at Harvard, often looked upon as the 
acutest of our thinkers in many problems of sociological 
psychology, said, “Among us English-speaking peoples 
especially do the praises of poverty need once more to be 
boldly sung. We have grown literally afraid to be poor. 
We despise anyone who elects to be poor in order to sim- 
plify and save his inner life. If he does not join the 
general scramble and pant with the money making street, 
we deem him spiritless and lacking in ambition. . . . It is 
time for thinking men to protest against so unmanly and: 
irreligious a state of affairs... . The prevalent fear of 
poverty among the educated classes is the worst moral 
disease from which our civilization suffers.” 

There is no panacea for the many ills that have come 
from the dread of poverty and the love of riches that is 
so potent as the study of the life and the Ideals of St. 
Francis of Assisi. Hence the gladness with which I write 
the Preface to this latest contribution to the literature that 
has, in spite of our age’s tendencies, gathered round the 
life of the Little Poor Man of God. 


James J. WALSH. 


AUTHOR’S FOREWORD 


HIS book can at least claim the distinction of not 

being immature. It is in fact not the latest, but the 

oldest work of the author. He began it when still 
a young man, and he now stands at the threshold of old 
age. More than thirty years ago he attempted to answer 
for himself and for others the question: What was really 
the Ideal of St. Francis, and what should our Ideal be? 
Drawing on the material at his disposal and on his personal 
knowledge—both very limited and meager—he produced 
in his leisure hours a rather bulky manuscript, which 
for the time being was used for the instruction of the 
students under his charge. But in the course of time he 
was forced to realize that the work was very unsatisfac- 
tory because unseasoned, and that many problems remained 
unsolved, partly on account of the prevalent state of Fran- 
ciscan research, and partly on account of the limitations 
of the writer. The several hundred pages of manuscript 
were therefore locked away, and the writer resolved to 
wait and prepare a better foundation for the work. 

In the course of the following decades several Fran- 
ciscan studies were published by the author, in particular 
Die Geschichte der wissenschaftlichen Studien im Fran- 
ziskanerorden bis um die Mitte des 13 Jahrhunderts; my 
other publications, however, also stood psychologically in 
close relation to the Ideals of St. Francts, above all my 
recent work, Jesus Christus.* It is only now when I 
look back on the devious course of my literary and per- 
sonal development, that I fully realize this. And as I 


* Christ and the Critics, translated by Jobn L. Steddard, Benziger 
Brothers, New York. 


ix 


x AUTHOR’SFOREWORD 


now, at the conclusion of this work, again take up the 
pages of that old manuscript, yellow with age, it becomes 
evident to me that the final product was embodied in the 
original manuscript as the fruit is embodied in the blos- 
som—blossom and fruit, so distinct and yet essentially 
one, because both were born of the one purpose, that is, 
to develop as correctly and clearly as possible the Ideals of 
St. Francis. 

The goal which I had to keep constantly in view was 
to discover the individual character of the person and the 
work of the Poverello, to trace this character clearly and 
correctly; in other words, to delineate the Franciscan 
Ideal. It would not do to graft modern ideas on the 
original with the view of favoring some pet idea or con- 
ception. It was even more necessary to avoid superim- 
posing personal and subjective ideas on the image of the 
real Francis, as has been so frequently done within the 
past fifty years. My entire and sole endeavor was to 
portray quietly, respectfully and lovingly the Ideals of St. 
Francis in the light of all available sources, and to give 
these Ideals their proper place in the frame of his environ- 
ment and time. 

The main purpose, as well as the main difficulty, was not 
only to discover these Ideals in their inception, but to 
follow their growth and their development, their realiza- 
tion. “God indeed usually inspires the holy Founders 
with the general plan of the work which they are to 
accomplish, and this at times in a direct and miraculous 
manner; but the execution of this plan is frequently left 
to secondary causes, that is, the various happenings and 
experiences of their life, by which the gradual develop- 
ment of the original plan is brought about. This can be 
observed in the work of St. Francis no less than in the 
work of St. Dominic or of St. Ignatius. It is therefore 
a serious mistake to consider the first beginnings of the 
realization of a plan as the full expression of the Ideal, as 
its culmination, and to consider all further development 


DANEBEN RE OIEWVICHRID xi 


as a partial decadence or depreciation, and to stamp 
the forces active in this development as harmful or de- 
structive.” * 

This observation is of the greatest importance. Some 
modern writers contend that the Ideals of Francis did 
not survive the first phase of his enterprise, and declare 
that all later modifications and developments were the 
result of pressure brought to bear on him to abandon his 
original purpose. That means to ignore important laws 
of history and psychology, and to forget that it is a far 
cry from the abstract ideal to its realization. For if this 
ideal is to live not only in its originator, but is to become 
incarnate in a world-embracing organization, then the 
distance between ideal and realization is well-nigh im- 
measurable. It admits of no doubt that Francis was per- 
sonally true to his Ideal to the very end; but its vaster 
realization demanded a certain development. In some 
respects this development was brought about only toward 
the end of his life; in others, that is where exterior cir- 
cumstances exerted more force, as, for instance, regarding 
poverty, the apostolate, and science, many years passed 
before the Ideal and its realization came to a perfect 
balance. On this account we are able to restrict several 
chapters of this book to the lifetime of the Saint, while 
in other chapters we are forced to extend our scope to 
the first generations of the Order. 

It is peculiar that as yet no such work as the present 
exists. We have several excellent biographies of the 
Saint, also a number of works treating of various phases 
of Franciscan history, and especially a copious literature 
of critical studies on the Sources. Several very meri- 
torious works have been published which in some respects 
cover the same ground as this volume, such as: P. Ubald 
d’Alenson, L’äme franciscaine,t Heinrich Tilemann, Stu- 

* Franz Ehrle, S. J., Die Spiritualen, ihr Verhältnis sum Franziskanerorden 
und zu den Fraticellen, in: Archiv fir Literatur-und Kirchengeschichte des 


Mittelalters III, 558 f. N 
tame éd., Paris, Librairie St. Frangois, 1913. 


xii AUTHOR’S FOREWORD 


dien zur Individualität des Franziskus von Assisi,} and 
F. Imle, Der Geist des hl. Franziskus und seiner Stsftung.§ 
But they do not express fully the characteristic individu- 
ality of Francis, nor of his Ideal. 

And yet this peculiar character is the most interesting 
and the most important element in the entire movement 
which centers in the Patriarch of Assisi. What interests 
us is not what he has in common with other heroes and 
saints of history, and particularly with other Founders of 
Religious Orders, but that which distinguished him from 
all others and which constitutes his individuality, his per- 
sonality, his soul, his spirit, his genius, his Ideal. 

This Ideal has created that wonderful period which we 
call the Franciscan Century. This Ideal would have been 
potent enough to save the following centuries from the 
crisis which led to the Western apostasy with all its dire 
results, and is still powerful enough to cure our present 
society of its almost fatal ills. This Ideal must be cher- 
ished especially by the sons of St. Francis, if they wish 
to bring about the salvation of the world and of them- 
selves. This Ideal was incarnate in Francis and lived by 
him; and as it was lived by him, it was lived but once, 
so fully, so perfectly, so sublimely. But it must always 
remain the wish of his children to live it and to realize it 
to the fullest of their ability, albeit with due respect to 
the needs of the times, and to draw fresh inspiration from 
the one source, the Ideals of their Founder. For his 
Ideals were the ideals of the Gospel, and his own image 
was but the reflection of the Divine Image, our Lord and 
Saviour, Jesus Christ. 


HILARIN FELDER, O.M.Cap. 


FREIBURG, SWITZERLAND 
June 24, 1923 








t Leipzig-Berlin, Teubner, 1914. 
§ Mergentheim, Ohlinger, 1921. 


TRANSLATOR’S NOTE 


MONG recent contributions to Franciscan literature 
A Father Felder’s book occupies a pre-eminent place. 
His extensive learning, his deep piety, and his inti- 
mate knowledge of all things Franciscan acquired through 
many years of laborious research, qualify him as perhaps 
no other to undertake and successfully accomplish a task 
such as this work represents. The object of this work, in 
which is offered the fruit of lifelong labors, was, to use 
the words of the author, “to portray quietly, respectfully, 
and lovingly the Ideals of St. Francis in the light of all 
available sources, and to give these Ideals their place in 
the frame of his environment and of his times.” 

The enthusiastic reception accorded this work of the 
scholarly author in its original form as well as in its vari- 
ous translations not only proved its intrinsic merit, but 
at the same time prompted the desire to make it accessible 
to a wider circle of readers in the English-speaking coun- 
tries. The great interest shown in late years in St. Fran- 
cis, and the peculiar charm which this lovable Saint has 
ever exerted, seems to warrant the assumption that this 
inspiring book of Father Felder will likewise find a warm 
reception in its English dress. 

The translator has deviated from the German original 
only in so far as to relegate the numerous and at times 
lengthy notes to the rear of the book, thus providing a 
continuous and unbroken text. For the student this will 
prove no further hardship, and those conversant with the 
Latin will no doubt find particular relish in the charming 
language of Celano and of the other biographers of the 
Saint. The bibliography has also been adapted to English 


xii 


xiv ERASING TIAFT OR Rees oN OS 


readers, proper mention being made of the various works 
in the English language which are of recognized merit, in 
particular of the accepted translations of the various Fran- 
ciscan sources. 

In order to give proper credit where it is due, the trans- 
lator wishes to state that he has utilized the scholarly 
English rendition of the writings of St. Francis made by 
the Rev. Paschal Robinson, O.F.M., wherever quotations 
are made of these writings in this book. He also desires 
to acknowledge his indebtedness to those of his confréres 
who have rendered such substantial help in preparing this 
translation. 


BERCHMANS Bitte, O.M.Cap. 


MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN 
July 20, 1925 


CONTENTS 


PREFACE BY JAMES J. WALSH, M.D., LL.D. . 


AUTHOR’S FOREWORD 


TRANSLATOR’S NOTE 


CHAPTER 


i 


MEI: 
VI. 


XII. 
XII. 
LV, 

XV. 
XVI. 

XVII. 


FRANCIS AND THE GOSPEL . 


. FRANCIS AND CHRIST . 


FRANCIS AND THE EUCHARIST . 


. FRANCIS AND THE CHURCH 


FRANCIS AND His Love oF Poverty . 


. THE FRANCISCAN IDEAL OF POVERTY . 


FRANCISCAN LIVELIHOOD 
FRANCISCAN HUMILITY . 
OBEDIENCE AND SIMPLICITY OF ST. FRANCIS 
CHASTITY AND PENANCE oF ST. FRANCIS 


. FRANCISCAN Joy . 


FRANCISCAN BROTHERLINESS . 

FRANCISCAN CHARITY 

THE FRANCISCAN PEACE MOVEMENT . 
THE FRANCISCAN APOSTOLATE 

THE FRANCISCAN APOSTOLATE (Continued) 
FRANCISCAN SCIENCE . 


XV 


120 
166 
186 
207 
227 
243 
264 
285 
297 
321 
351 


XVi CONTE Nees 


XVIIESERESBIETYLOREST, BRANGISE ea cael 380 

XIX, BERANCISTANDE NATURE U. a eee 413 
BIBLIOGRAPH YES N Re RE an ren 431 
NOTES Vac RN ee A a ER SD. AN 439 


THE IDEALS OF ST. FRANCIS 
OF ASSISI 


GERADE TER 


FRANCIS AND THE GOSPEL 


HE disciples of St. Francis speak of a change in the 
Br of their master which they call his conversion.! 

They understand under this term simply the passing 
of Francis from a worldly to an ascetical life, a term 
commonly used by the Western monks to designate the 
embracing of the religious life? That a complete personal 
change took place in Francis in consequence of this transi- 
tion, is recorded fully by Thomas of Celano and the Three 
Companions.? Francis himself does not hesitate to call 
the period preceding this conversion a life of sin, in con- 
trast to the following life of penance.‘ 

He did not, however, look back on a period of life which 
would have caused the average man severe remorse or 
called for a conversion, in the accepted sense of the term. 
His sins were an all too worldly frame of mind and course 
of conduct. His genial nature overflowed with the joy 
of life and a youthful yet healthy exuberance. Heart and 
fancy were filled with the songs of the troubadours, the 
provengal chansons de geste, fables and sirventes. His 
delight was to march through the streets of his native 
city at the head of the gay young bloods to the tune of a 
merry song, to be acclaimed the king of youth, to wear 
gorgeous garments, and to give sumptuous banquets to 
his comrades.® These were the faults of his earlier life, 
of which he later says: “When I was in sin... .” 


1 This and all subsequent figures refer to notes in Appendix. 
I 


2 TEREST DIE SEO ES aid Rae EN emacs 


Yet even among these shadows we find sunny traits 
which gave evidence of unusual natural endowments and 
' presaged his calling to a life of perfection. 

In the first place, his unsullied moral purity. His most 
intimate companions testify: “He was by nature and by 
principle a nobleman in word and deed. No one ever 
heard an insulting or offensive word uttered by him. 
Albeit he was such a jovial and reckless youth, he made it 
a rule never to answer scurrilous language. The towns- 
folk respected him in consequence, and many who knew 
him declared, that he would yet become a great man.” ® 
“Nowhere do we find signs that this period of his life 
was marred by a serious violation of his conscience.” 7 

To this must be added his utter disregard of wealth. 
The son of the cloth merchant Peter Bernardone, Francis 
had been born and reared in wealth and luxury. As a 
young man he gave promise of becoming a successful 
merchant like his father. He had, however, as Thomas 
of Celano remarks, the one very unbusiness-like trait of 
being far too prodigal and extravagant. “He was the 
first in merrymaking, in sport and song, in soft and flow- 
ing robes, because he was very wealthy; not greedy, but 
prodigal; not miserly, but a waster of money; a prudent 
merchant, but withal a lavish spender.” ® He poured out 
money like water for himself and his boon companions, 
but also for the poor and needy. His parents rebuked 
him frequently for frittering away their substance as if 
he were not the son of a merchant, but of a great prince.® 

Another feature was his spirit of chivalry. This trait 
is emphasized time and again by his biographers. His 
very prodigality was in truth nothing else but the out- 
growth of his chivalrous spirit. The leading role which 
his comrades accorded him at their feasts and revels, and 
in which he so much delighted, was in his eyes but the 
stepping-stone to the rank of knighthood, and its deeds 
and honors. A symptom in particular of this spirit was 
the irresistible attraction which he felt for soldierly adven- 


ERANGESANDTEHBGO NS BEL 3 


tures, calling for heroic efforts and the risk of life and 
blood. Hardly twenty years of age, Francis threw him- 
self into the feud then raging between Assisi and Perugia; 
but as the reverses of war will have it, he was taken pris- 
oner with many of his compatriots. In this predicament 
his inborn chivalry again asserted itself. The captivity 
had lasted a full year and his fellow-sufferers were about 
to succumb to despair; but Francis never for a moment 
lost his jovial mood, joking humorously about their vex- 
ing misfortune. His companions thought him mad for 
being so merry in a prison, but cheerily came his answer: 
“Would you know why I am so merry? I see the day 
when all the world will bow before me.” It was due to 
this genial and chivalrous spirit that he succeeded in reviv- 
ing the drooping spirits of the prisoners, in suppressing the 
unruly elements, and in composing the quarrels that 
arose.!° 

No doubt these three traits, moral purity, contempt for 
material wealth, and a chivalrous spirit, predisposed the 
youthful Francis for that higher spiritual life according 
to the Gospel, which demands chastity, the renunciation of 
all earthly things, and a soul at once chivalrous and heroic. 

Before Francis could approach this higher calling, the 
way had to be cleared of two formidable obstacles: his 
fondness for worldly pleasures, and his ambition for the 
worldly glory of the knighthood. We shall presently see 
how Christ directed the earthly ideal of the knight to the 
higher conception of the spiritual knighthood." But in 
order to sketch more fully the conversion of Francis, we 
must show how his fondness for the vain pleasures of the 
senses gradually died away under the powerful influence 
of divine grace. 

A character such as Francis possessed, cast along noble 
and heroic lines, could not rest content with the pleasures 
which his mode of life afforded. The serious outlook on 
life which had acceded to his natural gaiety and levity 
while a captive at Perugia, asserted itself more and more. 


4 TE LDBENLSOFSTIBRANGES 


He soon after fell a victim to a grave illness, which shook 
‚his soul to its very foundations. When finally—he was 
then about twenty-three years of age—he left the paternal 
house for the first time, convalescent but still in need of 
the support of a staff, the world had lost its former potent 
charm. The beauty of the fields, the bloom of the vine- 
yards, and all that is fair to the eye, could in no wise 
gladden him. All things about him seemed to have 
changed, for the simple reason that a mighty change had 
taken place within himself. 

Francis was amazed and vexed by this change, and 
hardly had he regained his strength, when he sought to 
escape the hand of God.!? Goaded on by dreams of 
romantic adventures and restless for action, he set out for 
Apulia? But the farther he rode, the more pensive he 
became.!* A short way beyond Spoleto, the voice of God 
came to him, urging him to return to Assisi, where God’s 
design in his behalf would be made known to him. So 
emphatic was the voice, that he forthwith turned about 
and returned to Assisi.t? 

Once more at home, he was again prevailed upon by his 
friends to arrange for a grand feast of youth. He yielded 
with reluctance. After the sumptuous meal, his com- 
panions, as they had done so often before, paraded, sing- 
ing and shouting, through the streets of Assisi. Francis, 
the King of Youth, with a scepter in his hand, followed 
them for a short distance in silence and recollection. Sud- 
denly the hand of the Lord touched him and deluged him 
with such sweetness of spirit that he could neither speak 
nor continue on his way.!® 

From this hour he became more thoughtful and ab- 
sorbed. A deep loathing for himself and for all the things 
of which he had once been fond, settled upon him. He 
withdrew more and more from worldly affairs, yielding 
to the prompting of grace, which led him to a more inti- 
mate converse with God; for this reason he took refuge 
almost daily in a deserted spot outside the city, drawn by 





PhO NGS AND FL PEG SiR 5 


an irresistible force and filled with divine sweetness.t? 
In spite of this, however, he suffered intensely with anx- 
ious doubts regarding his vocation, not knowing whither 
the voice of God was calling him. His soul was in a very 
turmoil of emotions, plan after plan forming in his mind 
only to dissolve again, and leaving him in a state of greater 
perplexity than before. He was on fire with an intense 
longing for an unknown ideal and with high resolves for 
the future, which was for him as yet completely dark; to 
these emotions there soon was added the most bitter 
remorse for the sins of his past life.18 In a groping man- 
ner he felt that he was called to renounce the world and 
surrender himself to the service of God, but that was all. 

Finally—he was now twenty-five years of age—’® after 
he had trustfully invoked the Divine Mercy, the Lord put 
an end to his doubts by clearly manifesting His will to him. 
So great was the joy of Francis, that he could not contain 
himself. He began to speak of the good fortune which 
had befallen him, yet in terms so fanciful that his hearers 
thought that he had found a rich treasure, or that he was 
about to take a bride unto himself. He would then reply 
to their queries: “Indeed, I am about to espouse a bride, 
so noble and wealthy and charming as no other.” 7° “In 
truth,” remarks Thomas of Celano, “the Order which he 
embraced is the unspotted Bride of God, and the rich 
treasure which he sought so ardently is the heavenly 
kingdom. No wonder that the evangelical vocation was 
realized in him, who was to become a disciple of the Gos- 
pel in faith and in truth.” 21 

The ground plan of his future vocation had now be- 
come clear to Francis. But as yet the full understanding 
of this plan remained a problem to him, and more so the 
details of its execution. Three years were yet to pass 
before this problem was fully solved.2* Meanwhile Fran- 
cis strove zealously to follow the path marked out for him, 
by detaching himself completely from all earthly things; 





6 INTER BD ATE SO. FR SSR EHER AN 


and each new light vouchsafed him, he followed faithfully, 
‚in order thus to come closer to his ideal. 

The early biographers describe minutely the various 
steps in the development of this vocation.2* Francis him- 
self outlines them broadly in the first paragraphs of his 
Testament : 

“The Lord granted to me, Brother Francis, thus to 
begin to do penance, for when I was in sin, it seemed to 
me too bitter a thing to see lepers, but the Lord Himself 
led me amongst them, and I showed mercy to them. And 
when I left them, that which had seemed bitter to me, was 
changed for me into sweetness of body and soul. 

“And afterward I remained a little and I left the world. 
And the Lord gave me so much faith in churches that I 
would simply pray and say thus: ‘We adore Thee, Lord 
Jesus Christ, here and in all Thy churches which are in the 
whole world, and we bless Thee because by Thy holy 
cross Thou hast redeemed the world.’ 

“After that the Lord gave me, and gives me, so much 
faith in priests who live according to the form of the holy 
Roman Church, that if they should persecute me, I would 
have recourse to them. ... 

“And after the Lord gave me some brothers, no one 
showed me what I ought to do, but the Most High Him- 
self revealed to me that I should live according to the 
form of the holy Gospel. And I caused it to be written in 
few words and simply, and the Lord Pope confirmed it for 
Wiese 

In these plain and simple words is sketched the birth of 
the new man, the new Francis. Under the impulse of 
divine grace his innate tenderness now rises to the heroic 
heights of Christian charity. The heroism he displayed in 
nursing the lepers, spiritualized and deepened his entire 
religious life, manifesting itself by that simple-hearted, 
childlike reverence and service which he renders to 
churches, priests, and the Holy Eucharist. This deepen- 
ing of his religious life was brought to a full conclusion 


BRANGESTIINDEPTUEICO SS: PL 7 


when the Lord Himself directed Francis to set his life and 
his Order on the only foundation of all perfection, the 
Gospel of the Saviour. 

2. It was on the 24th of February, 1209,°° while at- 
tending Mass at the chapel of Portiuncula, that Francis 
heard the gospel wherein is related how the Lord sent 
forth His apostles to preach. After Mass he humbly 
requested the priest to explain more fully the words he 
had heard; and when he understood that a disciple of 
Christ should possess neither gold nor silver nor money, 
should carry neither scrip nor purse nor staff on his way, 
and wear neither shoes nor two coats, but preach the king- 
dom of God and penance, he rejoiced exceedingly and ex- 
claimed: “That is what I wish to do, that is what I desire 
and seek with all my heart!” He immediately removed the 
shoes from his feet, cast away the staff he was carrying, 
girded his loins with a rope in place of the leather belt he 
wore, and fashioned for himself a garment of coarse 
material, with the figure of the cross, the emblem of pen- 
ance, attached to it. “For,” continues his biographer, “he 
was no listless hearer of the Gospel, but kept faithfully in 
mind all that he had heard, and was careful to fulfil all 
things literally.” ?® 

A few weeks later the first companions joined him, 
Brother Bernard of Quintavalle, and Brother Peter 
Catanii. In order to convince himself that these also, 
and likewise the future fraternity, should share the life 
according to the Gospel, Francis thrice at random opened 
a book of the Gospels, and each time he struck the pas- 
sage describing the sending of the apostles. He saw in 
this the hand of God, and turned to his disciples with the 
words: “Brothers, this is our life and our rule, and that 
of all those who are to join our fraternity. Go, there- 
fore, and do as you have heard.” 2" It was the 16th of 
April, 1209, the birthday of the Franciscan Order. “From 
this day on,” remark the Three Companions, “they lived 
together after the manner of the holy Gospel, as the Lord 


8 TACT DEALS) Os BSR HERE TS 


had manifested to them. And Francis declared later in 
his Testament: “The Most High Himself revealed to me 
that I should live according to the form of the holy 
Gospel: ” 28 

As soon as the number of brothers had increased to 
twelve, they journeyed to Rome in order to obtain the 
sanction of the Church for their mode of life (1209 or 
1210). It immediately became evident how clearly and 
firmly Francis had grasped the ideal set forth in the Gos- 
pel, and how tenaciously he clung to it. To all objections 
on the part of his protector, the pious and influential 
Cardinal John Colonna of St. Paul, he had but one an- 
swer, that he was called by divine inspiration to live 
according to the Gospel. The Cardinal finally approached 
Pope Innocent III and said: “I have found a saintly man 
who desires to live after the manner of the Gospel, and to 
observe evangelical perfection in all things; and I am 
convinced that God intends to restore the true Faith in the 
whole world through him.” After the Pope himself had 
tested the invincible constancy of Francis, he consented, 
and approved the rule of the new fraternity by word of 
mouth.?? 

Unfortunately this primitive rule has not reached us. 
But we know that it consisted of a number of Gospel 
texts, to which Francis added several necessary ordi- 
nances. He declares expressly: “The most High Himself 
revealed to me that I should live according to the form of 
the holy Gospel. And I caused it to be written in few 
words and simply and the Lord Pope confirmed it for 
me.” °° Thomas of Celano amplifies this statement thus: 
“When the blessed Francis perceived that the Lord God 
increased the number of brothers from day to day, he 
wrote for those present and for those to come, simply 
and without many words, a form of life and rule for 
which he used mainly the words of the Gospel, after 
whose perfection he aspired most ardently. To this he 
added a few precepts which were necessary for the uni- 


PRANGISANDTHESGDO SIE EL 9 


formity of a religious life.” °! St. Bonaventure declares 
even more emphatically, that the observance of the Gospel 
was the inviolable foundation of the primitive Franciscan 
rule, while the inserted regulations had the sole purpose of 
guiding the brothers in their new mode of life? The 
exact nature of these regulations cannot be determined ; 
but it is certain that the main body of the primitive rule 
comprised the texts relating to the sending of the apos- 
tles,°? in which Christ demanded of them absolute poverty 
and renunciation of the world.*+ 

These summary ordinances sufficed for the first vears 
and the limited number of brothers. With the growth of 
the Order, further amplification and remolding of this 
rule became necessary. At the first Pentecostal chapter 
(1212), new additions were considered and adopted, “‘in 
order to observe more exactly the rule and the Gospel.” 3? 
Further additions were likewise made at the various chap- 
ters held during the first decade of the Order.?° Cardinal 
Jacques de Vitry states that the brothers assembled an- 
nually in one place, rejoicing together in the Lord, taking 
their repasts in common; and, with the help of good men, 
they adopted and promulgated holy precepts approved by 
the Pope.?? Finally, at the chapter of 1221, Francis pro- 
posed a revised rule consisting of twenty-four chapters, 
greatly differing in length.?® In this rule were incor- 
porated all the ordinances of earlier years with several ad- 
ditions made necessary by the new conditions. 

One thing, however, had to remain unchanged and un- 
changeable—the Gospel as the underlying basis of the rule. 
So strongly fixed was the determination of Francis in this 
regard, that he commissioned one of the brothers, Caesar 
of Speyer, who had gained fame as a Scripture scholar, 
to insert the various biblical texts in connection with the 
ordinances of his new rule.” The Prologue of the rule 
therefore contained the significant words: “This is the 
life according to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, for which 
Brother Francis has sought permission and approbation 


Io TEE FTD RAG Sh ase IFERZANNEET 5 


from the Lord Pope Innocent, and which the Lord Pope 
Innocent has permitted and approved for him and his 
‘brothers present and future.’ *° He designates the sum- 
mary of precepts and admonitions which then follow, 
simply as a formula for the observance of the evangelical 
life.41 Toward the end of the rule he admonishes again: 
“Let us therefore hold fast to the words and the life and 
the Gospel of Jesus Christ.” * 

But the rule had not yet reached its final form. The 
experience gained by its practical application since 1221, 
very soon demanded a modification of several regulations, 
the addition of new ones, and the recasting of the whole 
into a measure at least of uniformity. Francis accord- 
ingly journeyed with Brother Leo, his confessor and sec- 
retary, and Brother Bonizio, a learned jurist of Bologna, 
to Fonte Colombo,4* and having prepared himself with 
forty days’ fasting and prayer,** he caused the final rule 
to be written as the Holy Ghost inspired him.*° After the 
drafting of each chapter, he again sought counsel with 
the Lord in fervent prayer, to assure himself that all was 
in harmony with the Gospel.*% In order to emphasize the 
evangelical character of the rule, and to impress the 
brothers strongly that their calling demanded the full ob- 
servance of the Gospel,?? he placed the solemn declaration 


at the beginning and at the end of the rule: “The rule 
and the life of the Friars Minor is this, namely, to observe 
the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. . . . We have firmly 


promised to observe the holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus 
Christa ds 

Several Ministers Provincial had raised objections to 
various precepts of the rule, declaring them above human 
strength.49 » Francis himself, moreover, was somewhat 
troubled regarding the Papal approbation (given Novem- 
ber 29th, 1223), and in consequence the following vision 
was granted him.®° It appeared to him that he was to 
gather minute crumbs of bread from the ground and to 
distribute them among the brothers. In doing this he was 


DIEINKAES Ab IND EHR Ge CYS Brae II 


seized with great fear lest the crumbs should fall from his 
hand. A voice then suddenly called to him, saying: 
“Francis, knead the particles into one host, and give of it 
to eat to those who will.” This he did. Those who would 
not receive it reverently, or showed contempt, were forth- 
with stricken with leprosy. The following morning, 
Francis related the vision to his companions, full of sor- 
row for not being able to understand its meaning. Soon 
after, while at prayer, the voice again spoke to him: 
“Francis, the crumbs of bread are the words of the Gos- 
pel, the host is the rule, the leprosy is sin.” °! 

As a result of this vision, Francis became still more in- 
flamed with zeal for the rule, and until his last breath 
commended its observance untiringly. He was wont to 
say: “The rule is the book of life, the hope of salvation, 
the marrow of the Gospel, the way of perfection, the key 
to paradise, the eternal covenant. This rule all should 
possess and know, and it should be kept in mind reverently 
by all to combat weariness and to remind us of the vows 
which we have solemnly made. We should advert to it 
constantly as the norm for our conduct, and, what is more, 
die with it.” °2 

The Ideal of Francis was therefore a life “according to 
the Gospel,’ “after the manner of the Gospel,’ “accord- 
ing to the perfection of the Gospel.’ What Francis meant 
by these words is evident from what has been said above, 
and is furthermore plainly expressed by the rule of the 
Order. Even the primitive Franciscan rule consisted 
mainly of the following sentences: °? “This is the life of 
the Gospel of Jesus Christ, to live in obedience, in chas- 
tity, and without property, and to follow the teaching and 
example of Our Lord Jesus Christ, who said: ‘If thou 
wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast and give to the poor, 
and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow 
Me.’ ** And: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him 
deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.’ ® 
Again: ‘If any man come to Me, and hate not his father 


12 LHTIESEDEALS Oy Hesse shy NRC 5 


and mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters, 
yea, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.’ °° 
‘And everyone that hath left house or brethren or sisters 
or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My 
name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold and shall pos- 
sess life everlasting.’” 57 The same is contained literally 
in the rule of 1221,58 and in substance in the rule of 
mes? 

The Friars were consequently to observe exactly all 
those things which the Saviour demanded of His apostles, 
and of all those who are called to evangelical perfection. 
And since the Friars were called to this life of perfection, 
they evidently were bound to observe also the minor pre- 
cepts of the Gospel. Francis according!y was fully justi- 
fied in calling his disciples “apostolic men.” ©! 

Not satisfied with binding his own brothers to the evan- 
gelical manner of life, Francis in 1212 undertook the 
foundation of an Order for women, that of the Poor 
Ladies, or Poor Clares.6? These also, as far as it was 
practicable,°® he bound to the observance of the Gospel, 
according to the example and under the direction of the 
Friars. The primitive “little rule” (formula vite), which 
Francis wrote for them, contains only the one, but preg- 
nant sentence: “Since, by divine inspiration, you have 
made yourselves daughters and handmaids of the Most 
High Sovereign King, the heavenly Father, and have es- 
poused yourselves to the Holy Ghost, choosing to live 
according to the perfection of the holy Gospel, I will, and 
I promise to have always, by myself and by my brothers, 
a diligent care and special solicitude for you, as for 
them 

But even this did not satisfy Francis. As he himself 
and his disciples lived and preached the Gospel, or “pen- 
ance,’ °% so in like manner he founded a third branch of 
the Order (1221), for those living in the world and de- 
sirous of following the Franciscan Ideal. The Three 
Companions and St. Bonaventure tell us that in a short 


FRANCISANDTHEGOSPEL 7 


time very many men and women practised the life of “pen- 
ance” in their family circles under the direction of the 
Friars, and for this reason Francis called them Brothers 
of Penance (Fratres de Peenitentia) .s® 

Thus the entire Franciscan Movement assumed its 
character and wndividuality from the Gospel. Francis 
had no other aim than to lead back all classes of Christian 
society to the purity and the ideals of the Gospel by means 
of his three Orders.6* The Friars were destined not only 
to be the leaders in this movement by their preaching of 
the Gospel, but more so by living it themselves in the 
fulness of its perfection. That was the aim of the Pover- 
ello, that was at all times his supreme Ideal. 

3. Viewed in this light, and grasped with such depth, 
clearness, courage, and living force, thts Ideal was some- 
thing entirely new; it was, moreover, peculiar to Francis 
alone. 

The novelty and peculiarity of this Ideal did not con- 
sist in regarding the Gospel as the rule and compass of 
Christian life and of moral! perfection. How could any 
Christian, and, above all, the Founder of an Order, think 
otherwise! Every Christian is bound to the observance 
of the moral law of the Gospel. A Religious is further- 
more bound by his vows to follow the evangelical counsels 
of perfection, of obedience, poverty and chastity. He is 
distinguished thereby from the ordinary Christian as the 
apostles were distinct from the other disciples. The 
Fathers of the Church do not hesitate, therefore, to des- 
ignate the religious life as the only and truly evangelical 
and apostolical life.®® Monastic life had indeed unfor- 
tunately lost much of its luster later on, due to the in- 
creasing worldliness and to the laxity of church discipline. 
In the period of the Crusades, however, it again revived 
with renewed splendor. Shortly before the appearance of 
Francis, Rupert of Deutz (died about 1130), and Bernard 
of Clairvaux (died 1153) wrote in glowing terms of the 
apostolic character of monastic life and rules.®® 


14 IIERESID/ERL SO TIER AN HS 


And yet not a single Religious Founder prior to Fran- 
cis had based his rule on the Gospel and bound his fol- 
lowers expressly to its observance in its fullest sense. 
Neither Basil and Pachomius in the East, nor the Frank- 
ish and Irish monks in the West, placed this goal before 
their disciples. The two famous rules which were ex- 
clusively in use in the beginning of the thirteenth cen- 
tury, the Benedictine and the Augustinian,” in no man- 
ner made the Gospel as such the foundation of religious 
life. Nowhere do they intimate that the Order is based 
on the Gospel, nor that the individual Religious is bound 
by his profession to observe the Gospel and to imitate the 
apostolic mode of life; on the contrary, they expressly 
exclude very important features of this life. One need 
only mention, for instance, the stabilitas locs of the 
older Orders, and the obstacle it placed in the way of the 
apostolate of preaching. 

For this reason Francis rejected most emphatically the 
suggestion to borrow from these rules. When this was 
suggested to him, he replied: “I do not wish that you 
propose to me any other rule, be it that of Benedict or 
Augustine or Bernard, nor in any other way a manner of 
life but that which the Lord has mercifully given and 
shown to me.” Neither would he listen to the proposal 
of St. Dominic to merge the newly founded Mendicant 
Orders of the Friars Minor and the Preachers into one.” 

Francis was well aware that his institution was not 
merely a variation or a branch of another Order, but a 
new and distinct creation. And because he was firmly 
convinced of its divine origin,’® he held fast to it with 
every fiber of his being. There was absolutely no con- 
sideration that could influence him to deviate from this 
course. Yes, even with his last breath he adhered to this 
conviction, breaking forth on his death-bed into praises 
for the evangelical mode of life, placing it before all other 
institutions.“* His constant anxiety was the luster and 
purity of his heavenly Ideal. Humble and meek and sub- 


FRANCISANDTHEGOSPEL 15 


missive as he was, yet he was unrelentingly firm where the 
soul, the substance, the individuality of the Order was 
concerned, sts evangelical character. 

To have grasped this individual character fully and 
completely, to have preserved it untouched and to have 
made it a world-reality; that was and always will be the 
glorious distinction of St. Francis; that it is, which gives 
him his héstorical signsficance. The re-birth of the Gospel 
and of the primitive Church—that was the outstanding 
feature which drew the praises of his contemporaries upon 
the Poor Man of Assisi. Every biographer who depicts 
his life, every chronicler who has fixed his character, if 
only in a few lines, emphasizes his singular merit in lead- 
ing the world back to the Gospel by means of his life and 
his work. Thomas of Celano declares briefly, but preg- 
nantly: “He was the man with the evangelical vocation, 
in truth and in faith the servant of the Gospel. ... His 
supreme desire, his ardent wish, and highest principle was, 
to observe the Gospel in all things and above all things.” 7° 
In that lasting memorial which the Three Companions 
have erected to him in their Legenda, they state in the 
briefest terms that he was a perfect follower of the Gos- 
pel and of the apostles: “Emulating Christ most per- 
fectly, the apostolic man Francis followed the life and the 
footsteps of the apostles.” 7% “Many nobles and others,” 
reports the Augustinian, Walter of Gisburn, “clerics and 
laymen followed this blessed Francis and walked in his 
footsteps. The holy Father taught them to observe the 
perfection of the Gospel, to bear the burden of poverty 
and to walk in the way of simplicity. He also wrote an 
evangelical rule for himself and for his brothers.” 77 

Cardinal Jacques de Vitry, one of the most learned and 
pious men of his time, who was personally acquainted with 
Francis and his disciples, writes under the influence of 
this experience: “One consolation indeed I found in 
those regions [of Umbria]: many persons of both sexes, 
wealthy and prominent, gave up all for Christ and left 


16 DEIETDERTEO Bape Shs: Gals 


the world. They were called Friars Minor. . . . This 
Order of Friars Minor is spreading so rapidly over the 
whole world because its members imitate faithfully the 
manner of life of the early Church. ... To the three 
Orders of the Hermits, the Monks, and the Clerics Regu- 
lar, the Lord has added in these days the fourth religious 
institution, the flower of monastic life and the essence of 
monastic sanctity. Indeed, if we study more closely the 
nature and form of the early Church, we find that he has 
not so much discovered a new rule, as renewed the old; 
namely, the evangelical manner of life. He has brought 
to life the decadent and almost defunct religion, in order 
to place in the field new warriors for the perilous times 
of the anti-Christ, and to defend the Church by means of 
this bulwark. This is truly the significance of the Order 
of Poor Men of the Crucified, the Order of preachers 
whom we call Friars Minor. They endeavor so zealously 
to renew the fervor, poverty and simplicity of the primi- 
tive Church, to draw in the thirst and fire of their spirit 
the pure waters from the fountain of the Gospel, that they 
not only follow the precepts, but also the counsels of the 
Gospel, and imitate most perfectly the manner of life of 
the Gospel. . . . That is the holy Order of Friars Minor, 
and the admirable society of those men whom the Lord 
has raised up in these days.” 78 

The Dominicans themselves regarded the Franciscan 
Order as the only one which is entirely devoted and bound 
to the fullest observance of the Gospel. Toward the 
middle of the thirteenth century, the General of the Do- 
minicans, Humbert de Romanis, makes the following 
declaration: “The blessed Francis wished that the Friars 
Minor observe the Gospel most perfectly. They are bound 
to its observance not only in lighter matters, but also in 
the most difficult, as for instance regarding the injunc- 
tion: ‘If anyone strike you on one cheek, offer him also 
the other,’ that they might be in truth perfect followers 
of the Gospel.” ” 


gneenamanereinnen ana enen, 


ISBAUNGCT SAND TH BOG Ors Pie. 17 


The return to the Gospel is, therefore, according to 
these authorities the one, great achievement of St. Francis. 
The Christian peoples indeed believed the message of the 
Lord; but to a great extent they failed to understand and 
to practise it. Thus the chasm between theoretical and 
practical faith became wider and wider among all classes 
and ranks of society. The foremost men of those times 
constantly complain of this. And most lamentable of all 
was the fact that the consciousness of this glaring dis- 
parity between faith and its practise had been lost. They 
no longer sensed the grandeur and sublimity of the Gos- 
pel, having become entirely engrossed in common and 
customary things. For Francis, however, to know the 
Gospel, meant to live it. 

Its every word engraved itself upon his soul with | 
startling freshness and keenness. Hardly had he read | 
or heard it when he immediately set out to put it into / 
practise. Whether this or that word of the Gospel were 
a precept or only a counsel, whether intended for all or 
only for certain persons, whether given for all times or 
only for the apostolic period, whether only a figure and 
parable or an actual occurrence—such exegetical questions 
were unknown to him. He heard the word of God, he 
understood it literally, and fulfilled it to the last iota, un- 
less circumstances rendered its execution impossible. 

He reads: “Give to everyone that asketh thee,” 8° and he 
commands his disciples to give to those that beg alms 
their hood or half their garment if nothing else were at 
hand.*! He reads again: “If a man will take away thy 
coat, let go thy cloak also unto him,” *? and he allows his 
habit to be taken from him without remonstrance.*? And 
again: “Eat such things as are set before you,” ®* and he 
permits his brothers to partake of all foods placed before 
them, contrary to the custom of other Religious Orders.® 
He reads that on entering a house the apostles are to say: 
“Peace be to this house,” 8° and he commands his brothers 
never to enter a house without this greeting ; °” he begins 


18 SESE TD sie SS En Re Aaa 5 


his own sermons with it,8* and in his Testament he again 
reminds his brothers: “This greeting the Lord revealed 
to me, that we should say: “The Lord give thee peace.’ ” ®° 

These and other words of the Saviour, with which he 
became acquainted through the daily reading or hearing 
of the Gospel,®°° formed the rule and compass of his life.?! 
With touching simplicity and heroic firmness he lived the 
Gospel—that is the secret of his influence on the Fran- 
ciscan Century. 

That also, and that only, explains the newly awakened 
enthusiasm for St. Francis in our days. Since the thir- 
teenth century there has never been so keen and wide- 
spread an interest for the Poor Man of Assisi as to-day. 
The last decades have brought forth a veritable flood of 
Franciscan literature. Men of various camps and of 
various convictions are enthused over the Povereilo. This 
may be the result of a certain fashion or of modern de- 
cadent sentimentality, with some even an entirely false, 
anti-Catholic conception of the person and aims of the 
Saint. The main cause, however, of this phenomenon is 
undoubtedly that quality in the life and ideals of the Saint 
which is identical with that of the Gospel. The main- 
spring of this movement is a yearning for the simplicity 
and the purity of the ideals set forth in the Gospel; the 
Saint is esteemed so highly because since the days of the 
apostles no other has dared to live the Gospel in all its 
idealism as he did. ae 

This alone gives to the Seraph of Assisi his historical 
significance and his place in the hall of fame; this alone 
explains the proverbial popularity of the Franciscan Or- 
der and its undiminished influence. If this Order is to be 
the salt of the earth, as its Founder wished it to be, it must 
always remain true in principle and in practise to the 
motto of St. Francis: “The rule and the life of the Friars 
Minor is this: to observe the holy Gospel of Our Lord 
Jesus Christ.” 


CHAPTER II 


FRANCIS AND CHRIST 


HE Gospel is embodied in the person of the Saviour. 

Jesus Christ is the heart and soul of the Gospel. 

To observe the Gospel means to make Jesus Christ 
‚the center of one’s life. That St. Francis accomplished 
this, even a superficial study of his life will prove. But 
this does not express all. The peculiar character of the \ 
relation between Francis and the God-Man lies in this, 
that he was a Knight of Christ, that he devoted himself 
‚with truly chivalrous spirit and in a truly chivalrous man- 
mer to the service, the imitation, and the love of his Lord. | 

1. The life of a Christian has at all times been regarded 
as a military service of Christ. The Apostle of the Gen- 
tiles, who borrows many terms and figures from military 
life, demands of every Christian that he be “a good 
soldier of Christ.” } 

Those who embraced religious life especially, were 
always styled warriors of Christ. Jerome,” Augustine * 
and other Fathers use the term “soldiers of Christ” with 
preference when speaking of monks. The Father of 
Western monasticism thus addresses his disciples: “You 
have denied your own will, and have seized the strongest 
and best weapons of obedience, in order to battle for 
Christ, the Lord, the true King.” 4 

Benedict and his predecessors regarded the monk as 
a soldier in the then prevalent sense of the term; i.e., as 
a Roman legionary, but in the period of the crusades the 
soldier becomes a knight, a noble liegeman of the Lord, 
a “champion of God.” The term miles itself, which 


19 


20 SERED EAST STORES tthe anne 


previously connoted the common soldier, now signifies 
the knight.2. The enthusiasm of the Crusaders for their 
- Saviour King waxed so strong in the Holy Land, that 
even the secular knight sought his chief glory in being 
“the cup-bearer and warrior” of Christ.6 His supreme 
ambition was to be the “liegeman of the holy Christ, who 
was martyred for us.” ? 

Following out this ideal conception, the Christian 
knights began to band together in Religious Orders. It is 
needless to say that thereby this conception of knightly 
service rendered to Christ, was considerably strengthened 
and deepened. In the earliest rule of the Knights, that 
of the Knights Templar,’ the knight is made to appear 
as the soldier of Christ, as His co-warrior and com- 
rade. He is constantly reminded that he once chose 
knighthood from earthly motives, but now has become 
a warrior for the sake of Christ, and in consequence will 
receive his reward with Christ’s soldiers.? 

All this applied literally to the youthful Francis, to his 
chivalrous ideas, and to his conversion to the knighthood 
of Christ. We have already made mention of his chival- 
rous character. On the paternal side the son of a wealthy 
merchant, on the maternal side the scion of a noble 
(Provengal) family,!° Francis knew no greater ambition 
than to acquire the rank of knighthood. This ambition 
grew upon him from the day when he began his adven- 
ture with the knights of his native city. Although a few 
years later !! he tired of earthly pleasures, his thirst for 
knightly fame and knightly deeds remained unabated.” 

The occasion to realize his ambition seemed to present 
itself very soon. An able leader of the noble family of 
the Gentile of Assisi 13? made preparations for a military 
expedition against Apulia. Francis, though his inferior 
in rank, but superior in nobility of soul and in courage, 
joined the expedition as a common soldier.14 He was in 
the certain hope of obtaining knighthood by this adven- 


ERANEBSAONDI CoH RE ST 21 


ture, and with knighthood also nobility of rank, wealth 
and fame. 

At this point, when ready to set out on the expedition, 
he had a peculiar dream. He beheld a splendid palace, 
filled with arms, shields and various knightly trappings. 
Wonderingly Francis inquired to whom this palace and 
its splendors belonged, and he received the reply that he 
himself was the noble lord, and that he was awaited within 
the palace by his retainers and vassals. Joyously he ex- 
claimed: “Now I know that I am to be a great prince!” 13 

But the following night he had another dream. It 
seemed to him that he was speaking with someone who 
inquired whither he was going. Francis replied that he 
was setting out for Apulia in the retinue of a noble com- 
patriot in order to achieve wealth, fortune and knightly 
honors. “Who can bestow greater fortune, the lord or 
the servant?” Francis replied: “The lord.” “Why, then, 
dost thou forsake the lord for the servant, and the ruler 
for the subject?” Francis then asked: “What wilt thou, 
Lord, that I do?” “Return to thy country, for thy vision 
shall find through Me a spiritual fulfilment.’16 In this 
moment “Saul became a Paul. Francis exchanged 
earthly weapons for spiritual, a worldly knighthood for 
the divine.” 17 

The new Knight of Christ was forthwith put to the 
test. “The newly knighted warrior must exert himself to 
the fullest extent in the first tournament in order to win 
praise,” is the injunction given in a contemporaneous in- 
struction on knighthood.t® In consequence of his con- 
version Francis soon became engaged in a truly heroic 
struggle. His own father persecuted him, his brother 
ridiculed him, all Assisi, which had recently acclaimed him 
as the King of Youth, now jeered at his apparent idiocy. 
“They saw that he had changed his former mode of life so 
completely, and regarded it as insanity. They reproached 
him severely, called him an idiot and fool, and threw stones 
and filth at him.” » 


22 HIEFED BRIAN S7O sess. a Rea NGS 


At first he fled from the storm of abuse, and hid him- 
self in a cave, waiting for the tumult to abate. “He was,” 
remarks Thomas of Celano, “as yet only a novice among 
the champions of Christ.” ?° But his chivalrous nature 
soon again asserted itself; he felt a deep shame for his 
lack of courage, and he determined to meet the attacks 
of his enemies fearlessly. ‘Dauntless and determined, he 
quickly arose, girded himself with the sword of confidence 
in Christ, and, holding aloft the shield of faith, and burn- 
ing with the fire of divine love, he went forth into the 
battle for his Lord. A true knight of Christ, he disdained 
all persecutions, and, unbroken and untouched by all 
insults, he thanked God for all”?! The prince of dark- 
ness likewise endeavored in vain to turn him from his 
purpose. “The most valiant knight of Christ,” write - 
the Three Companions, “laughed at his threats and prayed 
God to direct his way.” 2? 

From this hour Francis devoted the heroic spirit of chiv- 
alry, with which nature had endowed him, to the service 
of Christ: his bold resoluteness, his generosity, his fear- 
lessness, his high-mindedness in thought and action. Here- 
tofore his sole ambition had been to please the great men 
of the world and thus achieve nobility of rank and for- 
tune, but henceforth his great desire was to know and 
fulfil his obligations as liegeman of Christ. He was con- 
vinced that he could never show himself sufficiently 
thankful for the grace and honor of divine Knighthood. 
Chanting spiritual minstrel songs,?? he set to work with 
a bold and dauntless spirit. Whatever he knew to be the 
will of his sovereign Lord, he accomplished with zealous 
and unswerving loyalty. 

At first he felt himself called to serve the poorest of 
the poor of Christ, the lepers. In these unfortunates the 
Middle Ages beheld none other than the suffering Saviour 
Himself. To serve them, therefore, appeared to Francis — 
as the sweet task of a knight of the cross. The Lord 
Himself, as Francis declares, led him among these afflicted 


PRN PS TADEL R Dori 23 


ones, who were ostracized by an unfeeling world.** Their 
horrible condition at first caused him deep disgust.2° But 
mindful of his knightly calling, he reproached himself, © 
saying: “Thou art not a knight of Christ, if unable to 
conquer thyself.” 26 And with true soldierly daring he 
embraced the lepers and gave them the kiss of peace.” 

A short time after, he heard the voice of the Lord 
speaking from the crucifix: “Francis, dost thou not see 
that My house is falling to ruins? Go, and repair it.” 
Filled with awe and wonder he replies: “Gladly will I 
do so, Lord!” Thinking that the command referred to 
the material house of God, he set to work upon the church, 
begged mortar and stones, carried them upon his own 
shoulders, and toiled so strenuously at this unaccustomed 
labor, that he well-nigh exhausted the strength of his 
frail body. But he was joyous and happy withal, deem- 
ing it a high honor thus to serve his King and Lord.?® 

As soon, however, as the Lord revealed to him clearly *® 
that He had called him to rebuild and renew His spiritual 
Church, Francis embraces and fulfils his apostolic vocation 
with the fiery zeal of a St. Paul. During his entire life 
it was a point of honor with him to follow the call of his 
Master like a loyal knight, not tarrying to explore the 
path to be taken, or to consider the hardships to be en- 
dured. Like a valiant soldier “he sought always to per- 
form valorous deeds,” declares his biographer.?® 

His one great and lasting desire was to perform the 
highest deed of heroism, to suffer martyrdom for Christ; 
and his greatest sorrow was that this coveted honor was 
not vouchsafed him.?! And when, finally, broken down 
with toil and sickness, and unable to walk on account of 
the Stigmata, he could no longer be active in the aposto- 
late, he let himself be led through villages and towns, 
inspiring the faithful by his example to carry the cross 
of Christ. To his brothers he said in the last days of his 
earthly life: “Brothers, let us begin to serve God, for as 
yet we have done so little.” And he still thirsted to labor 


24 THRILDBEALSKOBFST tha AN GS 


for the salvation of souls, and yearned to return to the 
service of the lepers. Without pity for his body broken 
with suffering and arduous labors, he still hoped to do 
great deeds of heroism for Christ, his King and Master.*? 

He had furthermore always endeavored to educate his 
disciples to the same spirit of chivalry with which he 
himself was animated. When receiving them into the 
Order, he was wont to instruct them in the duties of the 
new knighthood to which they consecrated themselves. 
To Brother Giles, who had asked to join the holy com- 
pany, Francis replied: “Most beloved brother, God hath 
bestowed upon thee a great honor. If the Emperor 
came to Assisi and wished to choose one of the towns- 
men as his knight or chamberlain, many indeed would 
desire to be selected. How much happier oughtest thou 
be, seeing that the Lord hath chosen thee from among 
them all, and called thee to His own court.”3® At 
another time, Francis met at Rieti a youthful knight 
of the noble family of Tancredi, proudly mounted on 
his charger and resplendent in brilliant armor. “Sir 
Knight,” said Francis to him, “armor, sword and spurs 
are vain dross. How would it suit thee to wear a coarse 
rope instead of the girdle, to carry the cross of Christ 
in place of the sword, and the dust and dirt of the fields 
in place of spurs? Follow me, I shall’ make thee a 
knight of Christ.’ The young nobleman dismounted, 
and Francis received him into the knighthood of the 
cross. °* That was the conversion of Brother Angelo 
Tancredi; that was the spirit which had to animate every 
novice who wished to join the company of these knights 
of the cross. 

Francis constantly conjured this ideal of spiritual 
knighthood before the mind of his disciples. He would 
remind the novice of the great heroes, Charlemagne and 
his Paladins, Roland and Olivier and their brave com- 
rades battling for the faith and the cause of Christ.®® 
In glowing terms he would speak of the twelve heroes of 


KREANEESANDEHRTSTF 25 


the Round Table, and then turning to his brothers, he 
would exclaim joyously: ““Chese my brothers, they are my 
Knights of the Round Table!’ °° Francis himself wished 
to be a knight of Christ; those whom he received into 
his army, were likewise to be knights of Christ—men 
of zeal, of courage, of magnanimity, and of loyalty in the 
service of the Lord. 

2. The main duty of a knight consisted in rendering 
unflinching fealty to his lord. Knightly honor was em- 
bodied in the homo legalis, the loyal soldier, ever ready 
and eager to follow his leader into battle, to stand by 
him in combat and in death. His loyalty must never fail, 
as God’s fidelity never fails: 


“Be true—loyal without fail, 
As God Himseif is ever true, 
And hateth the false knave,”’ 


thus the knight is reminded.?”” To accuse the knight of 
disloyalty was to accuse him of the basest crime.”® Felony, 
the violation of the oath of fealty, rendered him guilty 
of death, and led to the company of the “sulphur-burning 
hordes” of the devils in hell.*9 

The supreme duty of the spiritual knight was therefore 
to be a vassal of Christ, the Lord Most High. But the 
call of this sovereign Lord was not to bloody strife and 
battle. He, the “King of kings and Lord of lords,” has 
come as “Prince of peace,” has come to shatter the sword 
of steel, and to check the brutal force of war, which seeks 
to ruin and destroy. He challenges His knights to the 
spiritual combat against sin and Satan and the world, 
arming them with the spiritual sword of -faith and truth 
and virtue. “Do not think that I came to send peace upon 
earth, but the sword,” is His battle-cry. “He that fol- 
loweth Me not,” the Leader in the spiritual combat, “is 
not worthy of Me.” * 

Christ has become our Leader in the fight, our Exem- 


26 TSE DD BeA SS Ours A Shah SA Cade 


plar in every perfection. He has gone before us, “leaving 
us an example that we should follow His steps.” 44 This 
- duty of spiritual vassalage He frequently recalls to our 
mind. “I am the Light of the world: he that followeth 
Me, walketh not in darkness, but shall have the Light of 
life.” 42 “TI have given you an example, that as I have 
done to you, so you do also.” #8 There is no higher pur- 
pose on earth for the chosen knight of the cross. “For 
whom He foreknew, He also predestinated to be made 
conformable to the image of His Son; that He might be 
the first-born among many brethren.” 44 The true knight 
of Christ must therefore follow his divine Leader step 
for step, and copy His life line for line, until he can 
exclaim: “I live now, not I, but Christ liveth in me.” # 

St. Francis was deeply convinced of the necessity of 
following Christ, and wholly carried away with the deter- 
mination to proclaim and practise it. With the same 
earnestness with which he placed the observance of the 
Gospel before his brothers as their ideal in life, he also 
pointed out to them the Person and the example of Jesus 
Christ, in whom the Gospel had become a living reality. 

There is no doubt that even the primitive rule con- 
tained the words: “The rule and the life of the brothers is 
this: namely, to live in obedience, in chastity and with- 
out property, and to follow the steps of Our Lord Jesus 
Christ.” 48 

In the rule of 1221, Francis again admonishes: “Let 
us therefore hold fast the words, the life and doctrine 
and Holy Gospel of Him who deigned for us to ask His 
Father to manifest to us His Name. . . . Let us therefore 
desire nothing else, wish for nothing else, and let nothing 
please and delight us, except our Creator, and Redeemer, 
and Saviour.” 47 

He adjures the General Chapter: “Hear, my lords, my 
sons and my brothers, and with your ears receive my 
words. Incline the ear of your heart, and obey the voice 
of the Son of God. Keep His commandments with all 


4 


~ 


& 


IR ANNE DSL A DEIN HR ESER 27 


your heart, and fulfil His counsels with a perfect mind. 
Praise Him, for He is good, and extol Him in your 
works, for to this end He has sent you into all the world, 
that by word and deed you may bear witness to His 
voices 2° 

In his Admonitions to the Friars, Francis thus speaks 
of the following of Christ: “Let us all, my brothers, con- 
sider the Good Shepherd, who, to save His sheep, bore the 
suffering of the cross. The sheep of the Lord followed 
Him in tribulation and persecution and shame, in hunger 
and thirst, in infirmity and temptations, and in all other 
ways; and for these things they have received everlasting 
life from the Lord.” * 

From his death-bed Francis writes these few and simple 
words as his last wish: “I, little Brother Francis, wish to 
follow the life and poverty of Jesus Christ, our Most High 
Lord, and of His Most Holy Mother, and to persevere 
therein until the end. And I beseech you all, my ladies, 
and counsel you, to live always in this most holy life 
and poverty. And watch yourself well, that you in no 
wise depart from it through the teaching or advice of 
anyone.” 5° 

Thus Francis, the Knight of Christ, persevered until 
his last breath in the loyal service of his Lord. Thomas 
of Celano assures us: “His supreme endeavor, his most 
ardent wish and foremost principle was to observe the 
holy Gospel in all and above all things, and to follow per- 
fectly, with all zeal, with the fullest ardor of his spirit, 
with all the love of his heart, the doctrine of Our Lord 
Jesus Christ, and to imitate His example. In constant 
meditation he reflected on His words, and with deep 
intentness he pondered on His works.” °! 

The following of Christ in all conditions of life, in 
thought and action, a practical, energetic, constant and 
persevering following of Jesus Christ until death,.is the 
secret of St. Francis. In great things as well as small, 
in the hidden life of the soul as well as in exterior con- 


28 TERE-TDEBATSIOFSSTDIER FIN GES 


duct, he sought to become like to his Saviour. Gorres 
says of him: “If the Saviour has found one since the 
times of the apostles, who has walked after Him in all His 
- footsteps, followed His example in all His teachings, and 
clung to Him with all the strength of his soul, it was this 
fiery nature, who, sunning himself ceaselessly in His light, 
himself became a light-bearer, reflecting not only His 
splendor, but His very image.” °? 

It is a partly naive and extravagant, yet on the whole 
a faithful picture, which Bartholomew of Pisa draws of 
Francis in his work: On the Conformity of Life of St. 
Francis with the Life of the Lord Jesus. The main 
theme of this work is expressed in the first lines of the 
Fioretti: “Conformity of St. Francis with Christ. Let it 
be known in the first place, that our holy Father St. 
Francis was conformable to Christ in all things.” The 
earliest biographer of Francis remarks: “In my judgment 
St. Francis was a most holy mirror of the sanctity of Our 
Lord, and the image of His perfection.” °? So close was 
this conformity that St. Bonaventure finds it but natural 
that the Saint finally became a perfect image of his 
Saviour by means of the Stigmata: “As the man of God 
had imitated Christ in the actions of his life, so, before 
he should depart from this world, he was to be conformed 
to Him likewise in the sufferings and pains of His pas- 
sion. And although, by the great austerity of his past life 
and his continual bearing of the cross of Christ, he had 
become very feeble in body, yet he was not terrified, but 
prepared himself with good courage to endure the mar- 
tyrdom set before him. For there had grown in him 
an invincible fire of the love of his good Jesus.” 5% 

3. This invincible fire of love for Christ was the foun- 
tain from which Francis drew his zeal in following Him 
as a faithful knight. Next to the duty of service, love and 
its devotion has always been an essential element of chival- 
rous knighthood. That applied also to the Assisian Knight 
of the Cross. By very nature he was a passionate lover. 


ORGAN AS D> GA ey GAL RE Oe 29 


To love great things, and to be great in love, had always 
been the need of his heart. Therefore his youthful en- 
thusiasm for the glowing, yet withal wondrously chaste 
songs of romance, and for the valorous deeds of true 
knighthood. But from the moment when he was made 
a spiritual knight, he directed this love to Christ. The 
Three Companions write: “From the time of his con- 
version to his death, he loved Christ with his whole heart, 
bearing the memory of Him constantly in his mind, prais- 
ing Him with his lips, and glorifying Him in good works. 
So ardently and tenderly did he love the divine Saviour, 
that, on hearing His sweet Name, he became enraptured 
and exclaimed: ‘Heaven and earth should bow before 
the Name of the Lord.’ ” 5° In his letter to all the Friars, 
Francis writes: “When you hear His Name, adore ye 
with fear and reverence, prostrate on the ground; the 
Lord Jesus Christ, such is the Name of the Most High 
Son, blessed forever.” 3° 

In touching words “the brothers who had lived with 
him would delight in telling how he daily and constantly 
occupied himself with Jesus when conversing, how sweet 
and charming was his discourse, how mild and tender his 
talk of Jesus,’ declares Thomas of Celano; and he adds: 
“His tongue spoke out of the fulness of his heart, and \ 
the stream of enraptured love which filled his soul, over- | 
flowed outwardly. Always was he occupied with Jesus. 
Jesus he carried in his heart, Jesus in his mouth, Jesus 
in his ears, Jesus in his eyes, Jesus in his hands, Jesus in 
all his members. Oh, how often he forgot earthly food 
while at table, when hearing the Name of Jesus, or pro- 
nouncing it, or thinking of it; seeing, he then saw not; 
and hearing, he heard not. Often, too, when thinking of 
Jesus on his journeys or singing of Him, he lost sight of 
his way and invited all elements to the praise of Jesus.” ?7 

In his prayers also he besought the Saviour to grant 
him the grace of perfect love: “I beseech Thee, O Lord, 
that the fiery and sweet strength of Thy love may absorb 


30 T AeA SPO eS HER ANCTS 


my soul from all things that are under heaven, that I may 
die for love of Thy love, as Thou didst deign to die for 
love of my love.” °® 

This flame of love he enkindled especially at the two 
beacon-lights of the earthly life of the God-Man—the 
mysteries of His Incarnation and His Passion. ‘Thomas 
‚of Celano tells us: “The humility of the birth of Jesus 


| 


\and the love of His passion occupied the soul of the Saint 
\in such measure that he could scarcely think of aught 
eisen 

“The feast of the Birth of the Infant Jesus he ob- 
served with heartier rejoicing and sweeter devotion than 
the other great feasts. He called it the feast of feasts, 
because on that day the Most High Son of God became 
a poor little child. The images of the Babe he would kiss 
with avidity of the soul, and his affection for it, which 
was poured out in his heart, caused him to stammer words 
of sweet delight after the manner of babes.” 6° 

One year Christmas occurred on a Friday. Brother 
Morico remarked casually that this time no meat could 
be placed on the table. “Thou art in error, brother,” 
replied Francis; “on Christmas there is no Friday. I 
wish that on this day even the walls should eat meat, 
and since they cannot do so, it should at least be rubbed 
Ona themes 

Many times he would say: “If I could speak with the 
Emperor, I should beg him humbly and heartily for an 
edict, commanding all people to strew corn and wheat on 
the roads for love of God, in order that the birds, and 
especially our sisters the larks, might revel in abundance 
on this high feast. All magistrates and lords should see 
to it that out of love and reverence for the Son of God, on 
the night in which the most Holy Virgin laid her sweet 
Babe in the manger between an ox and an ass, every 
master should provide more plentiful hay and better fod- 
der for his ox and ass. The rich also should spread a 
bounteous table for the poor and hungry on Christmas 


ERENETSZAINEEG TER LIST 31 


Day.” °? And at the same time he burst into tears, think- 
ing of the extreme want of the Mother of God.®? And 
since on this day our redemption was begun, he desired 
that every Christian rejoice in the Lord, and do good to 
all creatures for love of Him who gave Himself to us. 

The following episode shows how ingenious was his 
love for the Babe of Bethlehem. Three years before his 
death, he resolved to observe the feast of Christmas in 
a novel, hitherto unheard of manner. At Greccio he had 
a dear friend, Giovanni Vellita, who had given to Francis 
and his brothers a wooded cliff, lying opposite the city. 
A fortnight before Christmas, Francis called Giovanni to 
his retreat in Fonte Colombo and said to him: “Giovanni, 
if thou art willing to celebrate with us the holy feast, 
prepare diligently what I tell thee. I wish to present in 
lifelike and visible manner the birth of the Infant of 
Bethlehem. Therefore, prepare in yonder woods a man- 
ger filled with hay. An ox and an ass must also be there, 
just as at Bethlehem.” Giovanni did as he was bidden. 
In the holy night his brothers and many of the simple 
countryfolk flocked together with torches, singing shep- 
herd songs so that the rocks resounded. ‘The holy man 
of God stood before the Babe in the manger, shedding 
tears of love and overflowing with joy.” °° Then, vested 
as deacon, he read aloud the gospel of the birth of Jesus, 
and, thus writes Celano in his inimitable manner, “his 
voice, his strong voice, his sweet voice, his clear and 
sonorous voice announced in honey-sweet words the birth 
of the poor King of heaven. And often, when he was 
about to pronounce the Name of Jesus, the all too great 
fire of love overcame him, and he called Him only the 
Babe of Bethlehem. And the word ‘Bethlehem’ he said 
with the sound as that of a bleating lamb. But when he 
had said the word ‘Jesus’ or ‘Bethlehem,’ he let his tongue 
glide over his lips as if to taste the sweetness of this word 
with his palate and to relish it.” 6° 

His devotion to the passion of Christ was similarly 


32 HSE ED EA EISEOHZSTEFERR IN GAS 


deeply tender and fervent. “The entire public and private 
life of the man of God,” writes Celano, “centered about 
the cross of the Lord; and from the first moment in 
which he became a knight of the Crucified, various mys- 
teries of the cross shone forth in him.” 67 

The Saviour’s cross had stood at the very crossroads 
of the Saint’s life. After he had begun to withdraw from 
the world and to converse with God in peaceful solitude, 
one day “Jesus Christ appeared to him under the form 
of a crucifix, at which sight his whole soul seemed to melt 
away; and so deeply was the memory of Christ’s passion 
impressed on his heart that it pierced even to the marrow 
of his bones. From that hour, whenever he thought upon 
the passion of Christ, he could scarcely restrain his tears 
and siehs. 08 

Two years later, he was kneeling before a crucifix 
within the crumbling walls of San Damiano. Suddenly 
a voice went forth from the image of the Crucified, and 
the overpowering grace of God poured into his heart, 
changing him completely. “From that hour,” writes 
Celano, “he was pierced with compassion for the Crucified 
Saviour, so that for the rest of his life he bore in his 
heart the holy wounds, which later were also impressed 
upon his body. The sufferings of Christ were ever before 
his eyes, and filled them with ever flowing tears. Every- 
where one heard his weeping; at the memory of Christ’s 
wounds he was inconsolable.” 6° 

One time, shortly after his conversion, when he was 
walking alone in the road, not far from the church of St. 
Mary of the Portiuncula, he lifted up his voice in lamenta- 
tion. A certain spiritual man meeting him, asked what 
had befallen him. “The suffering of the Saviour,” replied 
Francis. “In this way I ought to go through the whole 
world, without shame lamenting the passion of my Lord.” 
This he said with such an overwhelming sense of sorrow, 
that this man also began to lament with many tears.“ 

To become like to the Man of Sorrows and to experi- 


BBANCESANDEGHR IST 33 


ence in his own body the sufferings of the Crucified, was 
his most ardent desire. In this endeavor he knew no 
bounds. The soul, as well as the body, was subjected to 
constant mortification. Incredibly severe were the chas- 
tisements which he imposed upon himself without regard 
to the state of his health; he knew no respite in crucifying 
the flesh, so that at the moment of death he believed an 
apology due to Brother Body, for having treated him so 
severely. On rising from prayer his eyes were often suf- 
fused with blood, so intense was his weeping. He did 
not, however, confine his mortification to tears, but denied 
himself food and drink in memory of the sufferings of 
his Lord. 

Even in his exterior he appeared as the Knight of the 
Crucified. His garb bore the form of the cross, thus to 
express his love and reverence toward the sacred symbol 
of salvation. His earliest biographer relates: “He wished 
to clothe himself with the cross, choosing a garment of 
penance which represented its image. Although he chose 
it because of its poverty, he also desired it to express the 
mystery of the cross. He wished his entire body to be 
clothed with the cross of Christ, even as his spirit had 
put on the Crucified; and since God had vanquished the 
powers of hell in this sign, so also the Franciscan army 
should serve its Liege Lord under this standard.” ”! For 
this reason he employed no other seal but the Tau, or 
sign of the cross. With this sign he sealed his writings, 
and also the walls of the cells.” He likewise admonished 
his brothers to worship the holy cross with due devotion, 
wherever they should behold it.” 

The Lord Himself considered Francis as a knight of 
the cross, and confirmed him as such. Brother Pacificus 
one day beheld the sign of Tau shining with dazzling 
splendor on the forehead of Francis.”* Brother Monaldus 
one time saw Francis fixed to the cross, while St. Anthony 
of Padua was preaching on the mystery of Redemption.” 
Brother Sylvester at various times beheld a golden cross 


34 THES EAU See LET FIRE 5 


proceeding from the mouth of the Saint, its beam growing 
upward into the heavens, and its arms reaching unto the 
ends of the earth.” Brother Leo, however, beheld a won- 
drously beautiful cross moving before the face of Francis, 
and Christ hanging thereon. And when Francis stood 
still, the cross stood still; and when he moved, the cross 
moved ; and whither he turned, the cross also turned. And 
it shone so brilliantly that not only the seraphic man of 
God, but all the surroundings, the air and the earth were 
bathed in a flood of light.” 

Brother Hugolino therefore wrote some time later: “As 
St. Francis and his companions were called and elected 
by God to carry in heart, and to preach in word and in 
work, the cross of Christ; and as, both in appearance by 
reason of the habit which they wore, and in fact by reason 
of their austere life and their acts and conduct, they were 
crucified men, therefore they desired the more to undergo 
shame and contumely for the love of Christ, rather than 
to receive the honors of the world or the reverence and 
praises of men. They rejoiced in ill-treatment, they were 
sad in honors; and so they went through the world as 
strangers and pilgrims, taking nothing with them but 
Christ crucified.” 78 

Whatever reminded Francis of the sufferings and lov- 
ing patience of the Saviour was very dear to his heart. 
For this reason he so loved the lambs, because they put 
him in mind of the Lamb of God, who was so meek and 
suffered so patiently. One day, seeing a lamb grazing in 
the midst of goats and rams, he exclaimed with a voice 
choked with emotion: “Behold, thus Our Lord Jesus 
Christ walked amongst the Pharisees and high priests, 
mild, sweet and lowly.” 79 

But if his eyes chanced to fall on a crucifix, he was 
overcome with love and compassion. He would then 
begin to sing, at first softly, then louder and louder, giving 
utterance in the French tongue to the passing sweet 
melody of the spirit within him, and the strain of the 


Beer CR SPA EU DANS BER ILS, 35 


divine whisper that his ear had caught would break 
forth into a French song of joyous exulting. At times he 
would pick up a stick from the ground, and setting it 
upon his left shoulder, would draw across it another stick 
after the manner of a bow with his right hand as across 
a viol or other instrument, and, making befitting gestures, 
would sing in French of Our Lord Jesus Christ.8° But 
all this show of joy would be ended in tears, and the 
exultation would die out in pity of Christ’s passion. And 
in tears would he remain, drawing deep sighs, and with 
redoubled lamentations he would hang in ecstasy, sus- 
pended from heaven, forgetful of that which he held in 
his hands the while.®! 

Early one morning—it was the feast of the Holy Cross, 
1224—Francis again struggled with his crucified Love. | 
“O my Lord Jesus Christ,” thus he prayed, “I pray Thee 
to grant me two graces before I die; the first, that in 
my lifetime I may feel in my soul and in my body, so far 
as is possible, all the pain and grief which Thou, O sweet 
Lord, didst feel in Thy most bitter passion; the second, 
that I may feel in my heart, as far as is possible, that 
excessive love by which Thou, the Son of God, wert 
impelled willingly to sustain so great sufferings for 
sinners.” 8? | 

The longer Francis prayed for this twofold grace, and 
the longer he contemplated the passion of Christ and His 
infinite love, the stronger waxed the flame of love and 
compassion within him, until he was wholly changed into 
Jesus. | 
Suddenly he beheld the crucified Saviour descend 
toward him in the figure of a seraph. The wondrous 
apparition shone with a blazing light of glory and with 
the searing flame of suffering. Blood-red were the marks 
of the nails in hands and feet, and the gaping wound in 
the side. And the Vision looked upon Francis with such 
unspeakably tender and loving eyes that he fain would 
have died for love and compassion. At the same time 


36 TAR ED i A Sei ST be, OAL 


he felt Himself smitten with a fivefold agonizing pain. 
His hands and feet were pierced as if with fiery nails, 
his right side opened as if with a lance. The Stigmata 
of the Saviour glowed and burned in his flesh.*% 

From this day on, in consequence of an astounding and 
hitherto unheard of miracle, he was a living image of the 
Crucified,’4 “a crucified man.” 8® But he was not content 
with the severe pains caused by the sacred wounds; he 
yearned for further suffering in order to endure in his 
entire body the torments of the Saviour. He would not 
have considered himself a worthy knight of Christ if he 
had borne only the marks of the passion, without its tor- 
ture. The Lord soon granted his wish in fullest measure. 

Shortly after the stigmatization, his body was visited 
with ills more severe than he had as yet experienced.°® 
He was stricken with a very painful malady of the eyes, 
which never left him until death, necessitating inhumanly 
cruel operations, and ending with almost total blindness.** 

Six months before his death, his body, already broken 
with constant austerities and superhuman labors, became 
afflicted with various maladies, so that hardly a single 
member remained sound. The stomach refused almost all 
nourishment, the liver became torpid; body, limbs and feet 
swelled to an alarming degree, frequent hemorrhages 
occurred. Reduced to a mere skeleton, he appeared a 
veritable figure of woe, and each day seemed to be his 
last.°® 

Once, being more grievously tormented than usual, a 
certain simple brother said to him: “Brother, pray to 
God that He will deal more gently with thee, for it seems 
to me that His hand is heavier upon thee than is meet.” 
Francis rebuked him severely, saying: “But that I know 
the purity of thy simplicity, I should from henceforth 
abhor thy company, for that thou hast dared to find fault 
with the divine judgments which are executed upon me.” 
And although sick to death, he cast himself upon the 
ground, all his weak bones being shattered by the fall. 


ERROR Cot oy PIN DIF CHE EESET 37 


And, kissing the ground, he said: “I thank Thee, O Lord, 
my God, for these my pains, and I beseech Thee, O Lord, 
to increase them a hundredfold, for this shall be most 
acceptable to me, that Thou spare not to afflict me with 
suffering, because the fulfilment of Thy holy will is to me 
an overflowing consolation.” ® 

Another time, when asked by one of the brothers, which 
he would rather suffer, this slow and wearisome illness 
or a cruel martyrdom at the hand of.an executioner, he 
replied: “My son, it has always been and always will be 
sweeter and more pleasing to me, whatever my Lord and 
God pleases to do in me and to me. My sole desire is to 
be found submissive and obedient to His will in all things. 
Still, in comparison to any form of martyrdom, it seems 
more grievous to me to bear this illness even for three 
days.” °° What others could hardly bear to see, that he 
bore willingly, smilingly and joyfully to the end.?! Thus 
his confessor could justly say, “that from the apparition of 
the crucifix at San Damiano until his death, he had always 
been conformable to the image of Christ.” % 

Furthermore, as he had been an image of the living 
Saviour in life, of the dying Saviour in death, so after 
death his body was to bear the perfect semblance to the 
body of the Saviour.®? “Only now, when his soul had 
winged its way to eternal glory, and he lay on the bare 
ground, despoiled of all, his perfect conformity with 
Christ became manifest to all. Until now he had suc- 
ceeded in hiding the Stigmata with truly ingenious humil- 
ity, so that only the most intimate brothers knew them.?? 
But now thousands beheld and reverently touched the 
sacred symbols of seraphic love, and it appeared to them 
as if Francis had just been taken down from the cross, 
so fresh and almost living seemed the seal and escutcheon 
of Christ, his Lord, which he bore in hands and feet and 
side.95 In the service, in the following, and in the love of 
his Most High Liege Lord he had lived and died, in deed 
and in truth a genuine Knight of the Holy Gradl. 


CHATETERSTE 


FRANCIS AND THE EUCHARIST 


HEN Francis speaks of the Saviour, he has, 

above all, the Eucharist in mind. His knightly 

service, his imitation, and his love of Christ were 
so fervent, so real and living for the very reason that 
they did not refer to the Saviour distant in time or place, 
but to the immediate Person of Christ in the Holy Sacra- 
ment. Crib and cross, both he found here present. Here 
his divine Master lived and breathed. Here the knight of 
Christ stood guard day by day in the court and at the 
throne of his Most High King. The altar was for him 
the hearth of his faith, of his hope and his love, the goal 
of his thoughts and actions. In the Eucharist, and 
through the Eucharist, Christ became to him a living 
reality. The Eucharist was the focus of his entire rels- 
gious life. 

I. Francis fostered the devotson to the Eucharist as no 
saint before him. It was the devotion, not one of the 
devotions of the Seraphic Saint. Even unbelieving his- 
torians find it remarkable that the eucharistic cult “played 
such an important role in his religious ideals, and that this 
cult was to a certain extent the soul of his piety.” 4 

Brother Leo, the confessor of the Saint, has already 
stressed in his charming and delicate way “this,” as he 
expresses it, “exceeding great reverence and devotion of 
the blessed Francis to the body of the Lord.’ * Thomas 
of Celano declares: “Every fiber of the heart of Francis 
was aglow with love for the sacrament of the Body of 
Christ, and with exceeding great admiration he marveled 

38 


EPR AN GS AN Det HEISE UC HARTI S Tagg 


at the loving condescension and the condescending love 
of the Lord. He considered it an unpardonable negligence 
not to attend Mass each day whenever possible.? If ill- 
ness prevented him from going to church, he would ask a 
priest to celebrate Mass for him in the sick-room.* If 
this also were not possible, he would have the gospel of 
the day read to him from the missal, and in this wise assist 
at Mass spiritually. For he said: ‘If I cannot be present 
at Mass, I adore the body of Christ in meditation and with 
the eyes of the soul, in like manner as if I were present 
at Mass.’ > 

“He communicated often and with such devotion that 
he enkindled the hearts of others. Because he revered 
the Most Holy Sacrament with all his heart, he offered 
Him the sacrifice of all his members, and’’—these are 
words of Celano—“whenever he received the sweet and 
spotless Lamb, he surrendered also to Him his spirit with 
that flaming ardor which ever glowed on the altar of his 
heart.” © “He was, as it were, spiritually inebriated, and 
frequently rapt in ecstasy,” adds St. Bonaventure.” 

His predilection for French customs and the French 
language is explained not only by the fact that he de- 
scended from a French mother, and that the Provence 
was the home of true knighthood and of the troubadours; 
he loved France above all, because it was the “Friend of 
the Eucharist.” ® When he therefore resolved one day 
to take up his abode in a distant province, he said to his 
brothers: “In the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ and 
of the glorious Virgin Mary, His Mother, I choose the 
province of France, where there is a Catholic people who 
more than other Catholics greatly reverence the body of 
Christ, which is to me a great joy, and therefore do I 
desire to converse with them.” 10 He desired also to die 
in France out of reyerence toward the Most Holy 
Sacrament.!! | 

His reverence and love for the Eucharist was also 
the source from which sprang his ardent zeal for all 


40 THEIDEALSOFST.FRANCIS 


those things which stood in remote or proximate relation 
to this sublime mystery. 

As a young man of the world he frequently purchased 
' precious ornaments and vessels which were used at the 
Holy Sacrifice, and sent them secretly to poor priests and 
churches.!? 

On the occasion of a pilgrimage to Rome, he took notice 
of the scanty offerings made by the people for the main- 
tenance of St. Peters. “What!” he exclaimed, “such 
small alms you give the church of the Prince of the Apos- 
tles?” Saying this, he drew a handful of coins from his 
purse and threw it upon the altar with such noise that 
all present were seized with admiration at his generosity.!? 

In later years he charged St. Clare and her daughters 
at San Damiano to make altar linens, vestments and other 
articles, to be used in those churches which were too poor 
to procure them. In spite of his extreme poverty, he 
desired to send a number of brothers in every direction 
with beautiful and neat vessels, and wherever they found 
the body of the Lord preserved in an unbecoming manner, 
they were to place it respectfully in the vessels which they 
had brought along. He was often seen washing the 
church linens, and baking the altar breads with artistically 
wrought irons; yes, he sent these irons into the various 
provinces, so that the Friars might be able to prepare 
beautiful and snow-white breads everywhere.!* Wher- 
ever he found a neglected church on his journeys, he 
would seize a broom, sweep and garnish the house of God 
humbly and devoutly, and adorn the altars, so that his 
Lord might abide there with due honor and respect.’ 

From his early youth Francis felt himself impelled to 
repair poor and dilapidated churches. His first efforts 
were in behalf of the church of San Damiano, which later 
on became the mother church of the Poor Clares. Going 
from house to house, he gathered materials as well as 
helpers, and for many months he exerted himself so 
strenuously that his weak and delicate frame almost suc- 


KRANGEIS AND Te Pie BU ARR PSE ae 


cumbed under the strain. When the work of restoration 
was fairly completed, in 1207, he begged a sufficient quan- 
tity of oil to have a lamp burn continuously before the 
Most Holy Sacrament.?® 

His next undertaking was the restoration of the old 
Benedictine church of San Pietro, which at present is 
within the city, but at that time was beyond the walls.” 
He then directed his attention to the little country church 
Santa Maria of Josaphat, called later the Portiuncula, or 
Our Blessed Lady of the Angels. This sanctuary—once 
a famed place of pilgrimage, but at the beginning of the 
thirteenth century deserted and in ruins—began to rise in 
new beauty under the hands of Francis toward the end of 
the year 1208, and in later years became the favorite 
chapel of the Saint and the mother church of the Order.18 
In 1213 Francis remodeled the church of the Holy Virgin 
between San Gemini and Porcaria.” Three years later 
he undertook the completion of the church Santa Maria 
del Vescovado, in Assisi. This sanctuary was so desti- 
tute that nothing but a roof covered the altar of the 
Sacrament. Moved by the poverty of his sacramental 
God, Francis renovated the choir, and erected a beautiful 
baldachin over the main altar.*® 

His devotion to the Eucharist inspired him furthermore 
with an ineffable reverence for the priesthood. The de- 
generacy of the clergy was at that time wofully great 
and widespread. As usual, the masses held the entire 
clerical state, yes, the very office of the priesthood itself 
responsible for the sins of the individuals. The Cathari 
and the Waldenses declared outright that priests who 
were living in sin, had lost their priestly power itself. 
Day after day these heresies drew larger circles, and thus 
became a distinct menace to the Church. Francis com- 
bated this heresy with the sword of invincible faith in the 
word of God and in the eucharistic God-Man, both of 
which were entrusted to the priesthood. 

The Dominican Stephen de Bourbon (died about 1261) 


42 TIEBEIT DEAL SEO SIR EERFAIN GES 


relates an incident which strikingly illustrates the love 
and reverence of the Saint for the priesthood. Francis 
was journeying at one time through Lombardy, and the 
people of a certain village, clerical and lay, Catholics and 
heretics, flocked to meet him. A member of the sect of 
the Cathari elbowed his way through the throng, and, 
pointing to the village pastor, said to Francis: “Tell us, 
good man, how can this shepherd of souls demand faith 
and reverence, since he is living in concubinage and no- 
torious sin?” Walking over to the priest Francis knelt 
down in the mire, kissed his hands and said: “I know 
not whether these hands are unclean or not, but even if so, 
the power of the sacraments administered by them is not 
diminished thereby. These hands have touched my Lord. 
Out of reverence for the Lord I honor His vicar; for 
himself, he may be bad; for me, he is good.” #4 

Francis constantly admonished his brothers to esteem 
the priests above all others, out of reverence for the Holy 
Sacrament. “Wherever they met a priest, whether rich 
or poor, good or bad, they bowed humbly before him and 
reverenced him.” 7? Yea, the priests who administer the 
sublime and most holy Sacrament, were to be honored 
so highly, that not only were the Friars to bow before 
them, to kneel down and kiss their hands, but even to kiss 
the hoofs of the horse which had carried a priest, in order 
thus to honor the priestly dignity.?3 

Repeatedly he would say: “Blessed is the servant of 
God who exhibits confidence in clerics who live uprightly 
according to the form of the holy Roman Church. And 
woe to those who despise them: for even though they [the 
clerics] may be sinners, nevertheless no one ought to 
judge them, because the Lord Himself reserves to Him- 
self alone the right of judging them. For as the adminis- 
tration with which they are charged, namely, of the most 
holy body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which 
they receive and which they alone administer to others, 


Ree COL SAN DIPFPRFETGTPARFE S Laas 


even so the sin of those who offend against them is greater 
than any against all the other men in this world.” *4 
Even on his death-bed the Saint in the most touching 
words gave expression to his reverence toward the Holy 
Eucharist and to the priestly ministers of this sublime 
mystery. In that most solemn moment, when he felt him- 
self impelled to entrust to his sons what was most dear to 
his heart and most holy on earth, he had Brother Leo 
write the words: “The Lord gave to me, Brother Francis, 
thus to begin to do penance; for when I was in sin it 
seemed to me very bitter to see lepers, and the Lord 
Himself led me amongst them, and I showed mercy to 
them. And when I left them, that which had seemed 
to me bitter was changed for me into sweetness of body 
and soul. And afterward I remained a little and I left 
the world. And the Lord gave me so much faith in 
churches, that I would simply pray and say thus: ‘We 
adore Thee, Lord Jesus Christ, here and in all Thy 
churches which are in the whole world, and we bless Thee, 
because by Thy holy cross Thou hast redeemed the world.’ 
After that the Lord gave me, and gives me, so much faith 
in priests who live according to the form of the holy 
Roman Church, on account of their order, that if they 
should persecute me, I would have recourse to them. And 
if I had as much wisdom as Solomon had, and if I should 
find poor priests of this world, I would not preach against 
their will in the parishes in which they live. And I desire 
to fear, love and honor them and all others as my masters; 
and I do not wish to consider sin in them, for in them I 
see the Son of God, and they are my masters. And I do 
this because in this world I see nothing corporally of 
the most high Son of God Himself except His most holy 
body and blood, which they alone consecrate and receive 
and they alone administer to others. And I will that these 
Most Holy Mysteries be honored and revered above all 
things and that they be placed in precious places. Where- 
soever I find His most holy Names and written words in 


44 TEEIDEALSOBRSTIERIMNIGH 3 


unseemly places, I wish to collect them, and I ask that 
they may be collected and put in a becoming place. And 
we ought to honor and venerate all theologians and those 
who minister to us the most holy divine words as those 
who minister to us spirit and life.” °® 

It would indeed be difficult to find in all theological 
literature a treatise which sets forth so briefly and in 
words so profound and yet so simple the significance of 
the Eucharist and of the priesthood for religious life. “In 
this world I see nothing corporally of the most high Son 
of God, but His most holy body and blood, which they 
alone consecrate and receive and they alone administer to 
others.” Words of living faith! The faith of Francis 
beholds behind the crystal of the monstrance, on the linen 
of the altar, and on the tongue of the communicant, the 
hands and feet, the eyes and mouth, the flowing blood 
and throbbing heart, the majestic personality and the sav- 
ing grace of Him who once walked the fields of Galilee 
and Judea, and to whom he himself had sworn allegiance 
as a knight of the cross. And this unfathomable mystery 
and infinite treasure the priest calls back from the bygone 
days of Palestine into the presence of every tabernacle, 
from the height of heaven into the heart of the least of 
men. This thought is overwhelming, is staggering to the 
human mind. Francis was so overcome by it, that he 
constantly spent every effort in honoring and loving the 
eucharistic Saviour, the eucharistic sanctuaries, and the 
eucharistic priesthood. 

2. He was, however, not content with this. The Eu- 
charist occupied the first place not only in his private devo- 
tion, but also in his apostolic activity. Bartholomew of 
Pisa has already called attention to this fact. Among the 
doctrinal treatises of the Saint, he places the latter’s utter- 
ances on the Eucharist above all others.2® Even Böhmer, 
the Protestant editor of the Analekten, designates the 
Eucharist “the favorite theme of the Saint.” 27 In fact, 
the Saint does not speak of the Eucharist in a casual 


mea NAS AN DP i EU GTIBAIRI SV 


manner only; he treats of it at length in his writings. Of 
eight letters which are still extant, five treat exclusively, 
or at least extensively, of the Eucharist.”” He felt him- 
self impelled to impress this truth, which had penetrated 
every fiber of his heart, at all times and places upon the 
people, the princes, the clergy and his own sons: “In this 
world I see nothing corporally of the most high Son of 
God except His most holy body and His most holy 
Hipod4as. ts u 

At the head of his “Words of Holy Admonition” we 
find a catechetical instruction bearing the title: “Of the 
Lord’s Body.” In spite of its utter simplicity this instruc- 
tion is an excellent dogmatic treatise and a practical ex- 
position of the Saint’s conception of the Eucharist. He 
writes: “The Lord Jesus said to His disciples: 79 ‘I am 
the way, and the truth, and the life. No man cometh to 
the Father but by Me. If you had known Me you would, 
without doubt, have known My Father also, and from 
henceforth you shall know Him, and you have seen Him.’ 
Philip saith to Him: ‘Lord, show us the Father, and it is 
enough for us.’ Jesus saith to him: ‘Have I been so long 
a time with you and have you not known Me? Philip, he 
that seeth Me, seeth the Father also. The Father ‘inhab- 
iteth light inaccessible,’ 9° and ‘God is a spirit,’ 34 and ‘no 
man hath seen God at any time.’ ?? Because God is a 
spirit, therefore, it 1s only by the spirit He can be scen, 
for ‘it is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth 
nothing.’ °? For neither is the Son, inasmuch as He is 
equal to the Father, seen by anyone other than by the 
Father, other than by the Holy Ghost. Wherefore ail 
those who saw the Lord Jesus Christ according to 
humanity and did not see and believe according to the 
Spirit and the Divinity, that He was the Son of God, were 
condemned. 

“In like manner, a!l those who behold the sacrament of 
the body of Christ, which is sanctified by the word of 
the Lord upon the altar by the hands of the priest in 


46 EA Beh D EINESIORFSTTERE REN aor 


the form of bread and wine, and who do not see and 
believe according to the Spirit and Divinity that it is really 
-the most holy body and blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, 
are condemned, He the Most High having declared it when 
He said:34 ‘This is My body and blood of the New 
Testament,’ and: 3° ‘He that eateth My flesh and drinketh 
My blood hath everlasting life” Wherefore, he who has 
the Spirit of the Lord dwells in His faithful, he it is who 
receives the most holy body and blood of the Lord; all 
others who do not have this same Spirit and who presume 
to receive Him, ‘eat and drink judgment to themselves.’ ” 36 

“Wherefore, ‘O ye sons of men, how long will you be 
dull of heart ”?” Why will you not know the truth and 
‘believe in the Son of God?’ 88 Behold, daily He humbles 
Himself as when from His ‘royal throne’ 3” He came 
into the womb of the Virgin; daily He Himself comes to 
us with like humility; daily He descends from the bosom 
of His Father upon the altar, in the hands of the priest. 
And as He appeared in true flesh to the holy apostles, so 
now He shows Himself to us in the sacred bread; and 
as they by means of their fleshly eyes saw only His flesh, 
yet contemplating Him with their spiritual eyes, believed 
Him to be God, so we, seeing bread and wine with bodily 
eyes, see and firmly believe it to be His most holy body 
and true and living blood. And in this way Our Lord is 
ever with His faithful, as He Himself says: 4° ‘Behold, I 
am with you all days, even to the consummation of the 
world,’ ”? 44 

Who will fail to notice that in this instruction Francis 
makes the Eucharist the center and heart of Christianity? 
As the apostles beheld the divinity of Jesus through the 
veil of His humanity, thus also we to-day behold and 
believe the Son of God present under the eucharistic veil. 
As Jesus Christ lived with His apostles as an historical 
Person, thus truly and really does He live among us now 
in the eucharistic Presence. As salvation and damnation 
hinged on the belief in Him and the love to Him then, so 


AN, a SEN DCHER BI EN BR ES Ay 


also will our soul’s salvation hinge on our belief in and 
our love to the eucharistic God-Man. Whoever lives with 
and for and out of the Eucharist, he lives with and for and 
out of Jesus Christ even to-day as really and truly as at the 
time of the apostles. “Jesus Christ, yesterday, and to- 
day and the same forever.” 42 Yesterday with the apostles 
in the fields of Galilee and Judea; to-day with us in all 
the tabernacles of the world; and forever with all the 
saints in the splendor and glory of heaven’s bliss. That is 
the eucharistic message of St. Francis to the Christian 
people. 

It was entirely natural, considering the chivalrous spirit 
of the Saint, that he should also carry this message to the 
princes of the people. Christ present in the Eucharist as 
the Prince of princes, as the Lord of hosts, to whose serv- 
ice every genuine knight is called, to be the vassal and 
liegeman of whom is an honor even for king and emperor! 
To Francis it was evident that the great men of the world 
especially should bear a special devotion to the Most Holy 
Sacrament, and that they should promote this devotion 
also among their subjects. So strongly was this convic- 
tion rooted in his mind, that he addressed a special letter 
“To the Rulers of Nations,” in which he says: “To all 
potentates and consuls, judges and governors, in whatever 
part of the world, and to all others to whom this letter 
may come, Brother Francis, your little and contemptible 
servant, wishes health and peace to you. ... I ask you 
with such reverence as I can, not to forget the Lord on 
account of the cares and solicitudes of this world, and not 
to turn aside from His commandments, for all those who 
forget Him and decline from His commandments are 
cursed,*? and they shall be forgotten by Him.** Where- 
fore, I strongly advise you, my lords, to put asıde all care 
and solicitude, and to receive readily the most holy body 
and blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ in holy commemora- 
tion of Him; and to cause so great honor to be rendered to 
the Lord by the people committed to you, that every 


48 DP HAE EE DE A I SION SS ER SE 


evening it may be announced by a crier or by another 
sign, to the end that praises and thanks shall resound to 

the Lord God almighty from all the people. . . .” * 
‘ Again the plastic and living conception of the Eu- 
charist as the center and focus of religious life: to be- 
lieve in Christ the Lord, and to serve Christ the Lord, 
means to believe in the Eucharist and to honor the Eu- 
charist. The eucharistic God-Man is to rule cur whole 
life, public and private; princes and people are to gather 
around their eucharistic King in worshipful reverence. 
The eucharistic kingdom of God come to us all and rule 
over us all! To promote and to acknowledge this king- 
dom is the sublime and august duty of the great as well 
as of the small men of this world, but, above all, the duty 
of the clergy. | 

We have seen with what devotion and awe Francis 
revered the priesthood because of its power to consecrate 
and administer the Eucharist. The same devotion and 
reverence moved him to admonish the priests with holy 
frankness to live worthy of the sublime mystery entrusted 
to their care, to celebrate and receive it devoutly and to 
further its worship zealously among the faithful. Brother 
Leo, his constant companion, relates: “When he was at 
St. Mary of the Portiuncula and the number of the Friars 
was still small, blessed Francis went round the villages 
and churches in the lordship of Assisi preaching the 
Gospel and exhorting all men to penance; and he would 
carry with him a broom to sweep out the churches, for it 
caused him great pain when he saw any church not as 
clean as he thought it ought to be. Therefore, whenever 
he finished his preaching, he would invite the clergy into 
some place apart where he could not be overheard by the 
laity, and would speak to them on the salvation of their 
souls, and particularly exhort them to be solicitous in 
keeping the churches clean, as well as the altars and 
things belonging to the celebration of the Divine Mys- 
teries.” 26° Not content with this, he wrote a pastoral 


SIINVA,] “LO JO NOILVZILVWOILS AHL 





— 


ar 
ee - 





BRAN CES AND THE EUCHARTST:4 


instruction on the Eucharist to all the clerics of the world. 
It reads thus: “Let us all consider, O clerics, the great 
sin and ignorance of which some are guilty regarding the 
most holy body and blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ and 
His most holy Name and the written words of consecra- 
tion. For we know that the body cannot exist until after 
these words of consecration. For we have nothing and see 
nothing of the Most High Himself in this world except 
[His] body and blood, names and words by which we 
have been created and redeemed from death to life. But 
let all those who administer such most holy Mysteries, 
especially those who do so indifferently, consider among 
themselves how poor the chalices, corporals, and linens 
may be where the body and blood of Our Lord Jesus 
Christ is sacrificed. And by many it is left in wretched 
places and carried about disrespectfully, received un- 
worthily and administered to others indiscriminately. 
Again, His Names and written words are sometimes 
trampled under foot, ‘for the sensual man perceiveth not 
these things that are of the Spirit of God.’** Shall we 
not by all these things be moved with a sense of duty 
when the good Lord Himself places Himself in our hands 
and we handle Him and receive Him daily? Are we un- 
mindful that we must needs fall into His hands? 

“Let us, then, at once and resolutely correct these faults 
and others; and wheresoever the most holy body of Our 
Lord Jesus Christ may be improperly reserved and aban- 
doned, let it be removed thence and let it be put and 
enclosed in a precious place. In like manner, wheresoever 
the Names and written words of the Lord may be found 
in unclean places, they ought to be collected and put away 
in a decent place. And we know that we are bound, above 
all, to observe all these things by the commandments of 
the Lord and the constitutions of Holy Mother Church. 
And let him who does not act thus, know that he shall 
have to render an account therefor before Our Lord Jesus 
Christ on the day of judgment. And let him who may 


50 I.EEEFID.E AT SEO shes RER ANGER 


cause copies of this writing to be made to the end that it 
may be the better observed, know that he is blessed by the 
Bord 

However zealously Francis sought to inspire the people 
and the clerics with reverence toward the Eucharist, he 
endeavored still more to promote it among his brothers. 
They were to be shining examples unto all men in their 
glowing love for the eucharistic Saviour. The Three 
Companions assert that “he admonished them constantly 
to hear Mass devoutly and to adore the body of the Lord 
with utmost reverence.” *° “Having confessed contritely,” 
thus he charged them in the rule of 1221: “Let them 
receive the body and blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ with 
great humility and veneration, calling to mind what the 
Lord Himself says:°° ‘He that eateth My flesh and 
drinketh My blood hath everlasting life,’ and:°! ‘Do this 
for a commemoration of Me.’” °? 

At the General Chapters of the Order he repeatedly 
counseled the brothers in like manner.°? Toward the end 
of his life, when he was unable to attend the Chapter, he 
addressed to the assembled Friars one of those wonderful 
missives in which he writes as it were with his own 
heart’s blood: 

“T conjure you all, brothers, kissing your feet and with 
the charity of which I am capable, to show all reverence 
and all honor possible to the most holy body and blood 
of Our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom the things that are 
in heaven and the things that are on earth are pacified 
and reconciled to almighty God.*4 

“T also beseech in the Lord all my brothers who are 
and shall be and desire to be priests of the Most High, 
that when they wish to celebrate Mass, being pure, they 
offer the true Sacrifice of the body and blood of Our 
Lord Jesus Christ purely, with reverence, with a holy 
and clean intention, not for any earthly thing or fear or 
for the love of any man, as it were pleasing men.°® But 
let every will, insofar as the grace of the Almighty helps, 


MAING yh A DE IDEE DIR HITLERS: TS 


be directed to Him, desiring thence to please the high 
Lord Himself alone, because He Himself alone works 
there [in the Holy Sacrifice] as it may please Him, for 
He says:°® ‘Do this for a commemoration of Me’; if 
anyone does otherwise, he becomes the traitor Judas and 
is ‘made guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.’ 5 
Call to mind, priests, my brothers, what is written in 
the law of Moses: how those transgressing even materially, 
died by the decree of the Lord without any mercy.’® How 
much more and worse punishments he deserves to suffer 
‘who hath trodden under foot the Son of God and hath 
esteemed the blood of the testament unclean by which he 
was sanctified, and hath offered an affront to the spirit 
of grace.’ °® For, man despises, soils, and treads under 
foot the Lamb of God when, as the Apostle says,®° not 
discerning and distinguishing the holy bread of Christ 
from other nourishment or works, he either eats un- 
worthily, or, if he be worthy, he eats in vain and unbe- 
comingly, since the Lord has said by the Prophet:* 
‘Cursed be the man who doth the work of the Lord 
deceitfully.’ And He condemns the priests who will not 
take this to heart, saying,®* ‘I will curse your blessings.’ 

“Hear ye, my brothers: If the Blessed Virgin Mary 
is so honored, as is meet, because she bore Him in her 
most holy womb; if the blessed Baptist trembled and 
did not dare to touch the holy forehead of God; if the 
sepulcher, in which He lay for some time, is venerated, 
how holy, just, and worthy ought he be who touches with 
his hands, who receives with his heart and his mouth, 
and proffers to be received by others Him who is now 
no more to die, but to triumph in a glorified eternity: 
on whom the angels desire to look.°® 

“Consider your dignity, brothers, priests, and be holy 
because He Himself is holy. And as the Lord God 
has honored you above all through this mystery, even so 
do you also love and reverence and honor Him above 
all. It is a great shame and a deplorable weakness when 


52 TEREBEILDERTDSTOHIESTEIER AUNE TS 


you have Him thus present, to care for anything else 
in the whole world. Let the entire man be seized with 
fear ; let the whole world tremble; let heaven exult when 
Christ, the Son of the living God, is on the altar in the 
hands of the priest. O admirable sublimity and stupen- 
dous condescension! O sublime humility! that the Lord 
of the universe, God and the Son of God, so humbles 
Himself that for our salvation He hides Himself under 
a morsel of bread. Consider, brothers, the humility of 
God, and ‘pour out your hearts before Him,’ ® and be 
ye humbled that ye may be exalted by Him.®* Do not 
therefore keep back anything for yourselves, that He may 
receive you entirely, who gives Himself up entirely to 
vous. 

The soul of a St. John speaks in these words. He 
alone, who has rested on the bosom of the eucharistic 
Saviour as did the Beloved Disciple, he alone, who has 
drunk from the Source of infinite love, can speak in such 
glowing terms of the Mystery of Love. 

Francis, however, could not rest content with enjoining 
the most tender reverence toward the Eucharist on his 
sons. Not only personally were they to foster this devo- 
tion above all else; they were to promote it to the utmost 
of their endeavor also among others, among the clergy and 
the faithful. He stresses this again in another wonderful 
letter directed to the Custodes, and through them to all the 
Friars of the Order: 

“I entreat you more than if it were a question of myself, 
that, when it is becoming and it may seem to be expedient, 
you humbly beseech the clerics to venerate above all the 
most holy body and blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ and 
His Holy Name and written words which sanctify the 
body. They ought to hold as precious the chalices, cor- 
porals, ornaments of the altar, and all that pertain to the 
Sacrifice. And if the most holy body of the Lord be 
lodged very poorly in any place, let it according to the 
command of the Church be placed by them and left in a 


RAN SEAN DAP HH eC HARRIS IE 553 


becoming place, and let it be carried with great veneration 
and administered to others with discretion. The Names 
also and written words of the Lord, wheresoever they 
may be found in unclean places, let them be collected; 
and they ought to be put in a proper place. 

“And in all the preaching you do, admonish the people 
concerning penance and that no one can be saved except 
he that receives the most sacred body and blood of the 
Lord. And while it is being offered up by the priest in 
the sacrifice of the altar or it is being carried to any place, 
let allthe people on bended knees render praise, honor and 
glory to the Lord God, living and true. 

“And you shall so announce and preach His praise to 
all peoples, that at every hour and when the bells are 
rung, praise and thanks shall always be given to the 
almighty God by all the people through the whole earth. 

“And to whomsoever of my brothers, custodes, this 
writing shall come, let them copy it and keep it with them 
and cause it to be copied for the brothers who have the 
office of preaching and the care of the brothers, and let 
them unto the end preach all those things that are con- 
tained in this writing: let them know they have the bless- 
ing of the Lord God and mine. And let these be for them 
through true and holy obedience. Amen.” 8 

Francis would have embodied these directions in a 
separate chapter of the rule, if he had not been restrained 
from doing so by the misgivings of several of the Minis- 
ters Provincial. “For Blessed Francis,” thus relates 
Brother Leo in the Speculum perfectionis, “had the highest 
reverence and devotion for the body of Christ, and wished 
to have it inserted in the rule, that the Friars in every 
province where they dwelt, should show great care and 
solicitude in this matter, exhorting all clerics and priests 
that they should reserve the body of Christ in good and 
decent places, and if they neglected this, the Friars were 
to do so for them. He also desired to insert in the rule, 
that when the Friars found the Name of the Lord, and 


54 TEED IBAA VE SE. Oils SER RESTE 


those words that made the body of the Lord, not well 
and safely taken care of, the Friars should collect them 
and see to it that they be kept in a decent place, paying 
honor to the Lord in His words. And although these 
things were not written in the rule, the Ministers not 
thinking it suitable that the Friars should be commanded 
to do this, in his Testament and other writings he left to 
the Friars his will in this regard.” 69 

In view of these documents it may be regarded as 
established beyond doubt: Francis desired that his sons 
be the bearers of a world-wide eucharistic mission. At 
that time this was something unheard of. At a time when 
the churches were to a great extent in a deplorable condi- 
tion, when the Sacrament was treated with shameful indif- 
ference and neglect on the part of the clergy and laity,” 
the Seraphic Knight sounded the clarion-call to his 
“Brothers of the Round Table” to undertake an eucharistic 
crusade. They were to form the honor guard of the body 
of the Lord, to serve the Saviour, really, truly, and sub- 
stantially present in the Holy Sacrament, as genuine 
knights of the Holy Grail, and to promote His glory 
with every ounce of their strength. 

This was the Ideal before the mind of Francis, this 
his disciples understood and sought to accomplish. 

Clare of Assisi, the noble daughter of the Saint, is sym- 
bolized with the vessel bearing the Holy Eucharist. “How 
great,” thus writes Thomas of Celano, “was the devotion 
St. Clare felt toward the Sacrament of the Altar is shown 
by the fact that during the severe illness which had con- 
fined her to bed, she had herself raised to a sitting position 
and supported by props, and thus she spun the finest linens. 
From these she made more than fifty sets of corporals, 
and, enclosing them in silken and purple burses, sent them 
to different churches in the plains and mountains about 
Assisi. When about to receive the body of the Lord, 
Clare shed burning tears and approached with awe, for 


ERRANG Nao te eee, GE AYR DS Tass 


she feared Him not less hidden in the Sacrament than 
ruling heaven and earth.” 71 

John Parenti, the successor of St. Francis as Minister 
General, ordained at the Chapter of 1230 that “the Most 
Holy Sacrament be preserved in all places in ivory or 
silver ciboria and that these be placed in well-locked taber- 
nacles, because neither in heaven nor on earth can any- 
thing be found which deserves similar veneration.” 7? 

Anthony of Padua was the wonder-worker,’? Berthold 
of Ratisbon the preacher of the Eucharist.74 Alexander 
of Hales, Bonaventure and Duns Scotus, the luminaries 
of Franciscan science, became the theologians of the Eu- 
charist.’®° Paschal Baylon is the patron of the eucharistic 
works and societies.7® Joseph Plantanida of Ferno was 
the author of the Forty Hours’ Adoration,” the entire 
Franciscan Order, the defender and promoter of the feast 
of Corpus Christi and of the eucharistic devotions. 

That is the true Franciscan heritage, the true Franciscan 
spirit. As surely as Francis and his sons are called to 
the knighthood of Christ, so surely are they called to the 
cult and the apostolate of the Eucharist. 


GHA PIER LV: 


FRANCIS. AND: THE, CHURGH 


S CHRIST lives among us in the Eucharist in a 
A sacramental manner, thus also He lives in the holy 
Church in a mystical manner. Yes, even more. 
As the Eucharist is the true, real and substantial body of 
Christ, so the Church of God is the mystical Christ: He 
is our Head, we His members, and the divinely estab- 
lished authorities of the Church are as so many links that 
bind us to Him and communicate to us His life, His 
grace, His salvation. That is the conception of the 
Church as expressed by the Gospel, by the Pauline epis- 
tles, by primitive Christianity, by Catholic teaching. 

Francis grasped this truth with all the depth of his 
faith, and all the warmth of his heart. Hence his touching 
reverence for the clergy, the bishops, the Apostolic See, 
the ecclesiastical institutions and decrees; hence also the 
fruitful results of this relation between him and the 
Church. 

1. We have shown how deeply Francis revered the 
priesthood on account of its direct relation to the Holy 
Eucharist. But, aside from this, his esteem for the priest- 
ı00d and for the clergy in general was so marked for the 
simple reason that he beheld in them the bearers of divine 
authority, and the dispensers of the divine Mysteries. 
Even before his conversion he had frequently given proof 
of his love and esteem for priests;1 from the very first 
moment of his conversion, however, he endeavored to be 
always in closest contact with them, to serve them,? and 
at all times showed them the devotion and honor due to 

56 


FRANCISANDTHECHURCH 77 


their state. “For,” thus remarks Thomas of Celano, “since 
he himself was about to embrace the apostolic life and 
mission, and was entirely imbued with the Catholic faith, 
he was filled from the very beginning with reverence 
toward the servants and the service of God.” 3 

In the course of his life this reverence developed to 
an astonishing degree of love and submission toward the 
various orders of the hierarchy.* 

In his sermons he constantly and fervently admonished 
the faithful to be loyal and devoted to the priests, the 
theologians, and all the ministers of the Church.’ It is 
obvious that he also instilled this spirit of devotion into 
his brothers. He never tired of inculcating the duty of 
reverence, of love, of loyalty and of submission to the 
clergy. This duty he left to his brothers as a legacy, so 
to speak, in his Testament, and one of the final admoni- 
tions which he gave on his death-bed was this: “Be ever 
“ devoted and submissive to the prelates and the clergy.” ? 

He had docile pupils. Following the example and the 
injunction of their Father, they constantly rendered deep- 
est homage and devotion to the clergy.2 “Wherever they 
met a priest, whether rich or poor, good or bad, they 
bowed humbly before him and reverenced him. And 
whenever they were forced to seek shelter, they would 
turn rather to the priests than to the laymen.” ® They 
placed their confidence in the priests unreservedly, with- 
out regard to their degree of learning or their mode of 
life. They confessed their sins to them, not considering 
whether the confessor were a just or a sinful man.!° Yes, 
in their deep humility and respectful love, they found it 
difficult to believe that their fellow-man, and above all a 
priest, could sin." 

One day Brother Giles returned from a dense wood 
with a bundle of twigs, and, passing a church, he threw 
down his burden, and knelt and adored his Saviour. A 
priest who happened to see him, called him a hypocrite, 
which grieved him so sorely that he could scarcely refrain 


58 HE UD EA PS RE S Tash REN US 


from tears. Asked by another Friar the cause of his 
weeping, Giles said: “Because I am a hypocrite, as a 
certain priest told me.” “Believest thou this,” asked the 
other, “because he said so?” Giles answered: “I believe, 
because it is a priest that said it; for I do not believe that 
priests lie.” Whereupon the other said: “Father, the 
opinions of men, who are liable to err, are often at vari- 
ance with those of God.” On hearing this, Giles was con- 
soled, and his usual happy frame of mind returned to 
him.!? 

Francis inculcated reverence to the clergy not only on 
account of their dignity, but also because of the apostolic 
mission entrusted to himself and to his brothers. Hence 
he would say: “We are sent to aid the clergy for the 
salvation of souls, and to supply in ourselves what is 
wanting in them. Each one receives his reward, not 
according to his authority, but according to his work. 
Know, brothers, that the gaining af souls to salvation is 
most acceptable to God, and this we can do better by 
living in peace and not in discord with the clergy. If 
these should place an obstacle in the way of the people’s 
salvation, God will be their judge, and will repay them, 
but be ye subject to the prelates and see that it be not your 
fault if any jealousy arise. If you are the children of 
peace, you will gain over both the clergy and the people, 
_and this will be more acceptable to God than if the people - 
only were gained and the clergy scandalized. Conceal 
their faults and supply their defects, and when you have 
done all this, be all the more humble yourselves.” 13 

2. Still more did Francis honor and respect the bishops. 
Shortly after his conversion, his father, Bernardone, in- 
voked the aid of the magistrate of Assisi, to force him to 
restore the goods he had taken from the warehouse. 
When the court-servant approached Francis with the 
order to appear and answer the charge, the latter refused 
politely but firmly, saying that he was no longer answer- 
able to the civil authorities, having devoted himself to the 


ERANGLSANDIEHE CHURCH.” 56 


service of the Most High. The Bishop only, he replied, 
was the competent authority, according to the existing law. 
But as soon as he had received the summons of the Bishop, 
he exclaimed joyfully: “To the Bishop I will go, for he 
is the father and lord of souls.” And when the latter ad- 
monished him to return the goods to his father, he forth- 
with threw his purse and his clothing at the feet of his 
avaricious sire, and stood before the prelate of the Church 
naked and poor. Filled with admiration of such heroic 
determination, Bishop Guido covered him with his own 
mantle, kissed and embraced him. And from that hour 
he became the friend and guide of Francis, and loved him 
most dearly.14 He pleaded for him at the Papal Court,! 
visited him frequently at Portiuncula, conversed with him 
as with a most dear friend,!® sheltered him, nursed him 
in his illness in his own palace,!? and mourned his death 
asathat of a. dear father. 

Francis strove constantly to establish a similar relation / 
of respectful love toward all bishops. As soon as he 
entered a city, he would first visit the Bishop, or in the 
latter’s absence, the priests.19 He made it a rule for him- 
self and for his brothers never to preach in any place with- 
out the episcopal consent and approbation.”° In most cases 
the bishops welcomed the unassuming preachers with open 
arms. If they failed to do so, Francis succeeded in win- 
ning them over by his childlike confidence and simplicity. 
One day he arrived at Imola in the Romagna, went to the 
Bishop, and requested his permission to preach. The 
Bishop replied: “Trouble not thyself, brother, I shall 
preach to my people myself.” Bowing his head humbly, 
the Saint turned and left. After a while he returned. 
The Bishop, not a little surprised, said to him: “Brother, 
what hast thou come for now?” Francis smilingly gave 
answer: “Lord, if the father send his son out of one door, 
he must needs-return by another.” Completely disarmed 
by these humble words, the Bishop embraced Francis and 
exclaimed joyously: “Henceforth thou and thy brothers 


60 THEIDERLES ORR eS iss RR EN 


may preach in my diocese without hindrance; such saintly 
humility deserves nothing else.” *1 

In no wise would Francis allow any measures to be em- 
ployed to force the bishops’ permission to preach. Several 
of the Friars one day complained to the Saint: “Father, 
dost thou not see that at times the bishops will not permit 
us to preach, and that we must wait whole days before we 
can announce the word of God? It were better and more 
helpful to the welfare of souls, if thou wert to obtain this 
privilege from the Lord Pope.” Francis rebuked them 
saying: “You Friars Minor do not know the will of God, 
and you do not allow me to convert the whole world as 
God wishes, since I desire, in the first place, to convert the 
bishops ; who, seeing our life and holy and humble rever- 
ence, will themselves call you to preach and convert the 
people; which will avail more than your privilege, that 
will only lead you to pride.” ?? 

That was final. The Friars no doubt succeeded in gain- 
ing the approval of the majority of the prelates.?? Since 
the year 1219 they nevertheless carried with them 
Papal credentials, declaring them to be wandering preach- 
ers, approved by the Church and recommended as such."4 
It was left to the bishops, however, to grant permission 
to preach or to refuse it. Indeed, Francis expressly for- 
bade his brothers in his Testament to “ask letters from 
the Roman Court under pretext of preaching.” 25 He 
would rather see the apostolate suffer than the harmonious 
relation with the ecclesiastical superiors. 

Francis applied the same prohibition to letters granting 
the right to establish new houses for the brothers.2° They 
were never to force permission for a new establishment 
by asking Papal privileges; on the contrary he gave the 
following specific injunction: “If the Friars come to a 
city where they have no place, and there are those who 
wish to give them ground where they can build and have 
a garden and have all things needful . . . they must go 
to the Bishop of the city and say to him: ‘My lord, such 


ERNST ERNDTDECHUERCHT GE 


a man wishes to give us some land, for the love of God, 
and the good of his soul, that we may build thereon. We 
come to you first, because you are the father and master 
of all the flock committed to you, and of all the Friars 
who will live in this place; will you allow us, with God’s 
blessing and yours, to build?’ ” 2° 

And to give his words more weight, he reminded his 
brothers of the principle they were ever to bear in mind: 
“The Lord has called us for the help of his faithful 
people, of the clergy and prelates of the holy Roman 
Church. Hence, by all means in our power we should 
always love, honor and reverence them. For this we are 
called Friars Minor, that both by our name and actions 
we should ever set an example of humility to all men. 
At the beginning of my conversion the Lord placed His 
word in the mouth of the Bishop of Assisi, that he might 
advise and confirm me in the service of Christ; for this 
and many other excellent things I honor and respect not 
only bishops but also poor priests, desiring to love and 
reverence them, and look upon them as my masters.” 78 

3. From the foregoing we may surmise how closely 
Francis wished to be united to the Holy See. There is 
no doubt that he placed at the head of the primitive rule, 
which he composed for himself and his first companions, 
the vow to render obedience and respect to the Roman 
Pontiff.2® His filial love and reverence toward the Church 
is evinced by the words which he addressed to his com- 
panions at the beginning of the Order: “Brothers, I see 
that God in His mercy wishes to increase our number. 
Let us therefore go to our Mother, the holy Roman 
Church, and make known to the Pope what God has 
deigned to begin through us, so that we may continue 
what has been begun, with the approval and the command 
of the Apostolic See.” °° 

A few days later he stood with his family of Friars 
before the great Innocent and the College of Cardinals. 
How humbly and prudently he knew how to win the Pope, 


62 A AE SLD cE ALS ORES Cleat CR BEN GLa 


is well known.?! Overwhelmed by the impression which 
the Poor Man of Assisi made on him, and moved at the 
same time by a heavenly apparition, Innocent exclaimed: 
- “This is of truth the pious and holy man through whom 
the Church of God is again to be raised up and supported.” 
He then embraced Francis, approved the rule submitted 
to him, and granted to Francis and his companions per- 
mission to preach penance wherever they wished. Francis 
threw himself on his knees, and humbly vowed obedience 
and reverence to the Vicar of Christ, as he had written in 
the rule.22 From that hour Francis had found a warm 
friend and patron in Innocent III. 

The same holds true of the Papal Court in general. 
When the band of apostolic men arrived in Rome, they 
were presented by the Bishop of Assisi, then present in 
the city, to Cardinal John of St. Paul, the most prominent 
and influential adviser of the Pope. They soon endeared 
themselves so deeply to him, that he not only overcame all 
obstacles to their undertaking, which, humanly speaking, 
seemed reckless beyond measure, but wished to be re- 
garded in future as a Friar Minor himself.33 Through 
his influence the other cardinals were gradually won over 
to their cause; yes, they became so enthused over it, that 
each wished to have at least one of the brothers at his 
court.*4 

After the death of Cardinal John of St. Paul, God 
raised up another equally devoted friend of the Order 
in Cardinal Ugolino, Bishop of Ostia. Not a friend 
only, for Ugolino loved and protected them as if he 
were the father of all.2° He met Francis for the first 
time at Florence in 1217.36 The Cardinal received the 
Poverello with joy and said to him: “I place myself en- 
tirely at thy disposal and that of thy brothers, and am 
willing to assist you in word and deed, if only you are 
mindful of me in your prayers.” Francis gratefully re- 
plied: “Lord Cardinal, very willingly do I accept thee 
as the father and protector of the Order, and I com- 


ROREAGNAG ST AN DEE E-SERWPRCHEN >63 


mand that the brothers remember thee in their prayers.” 
And he requested the Cardinal to attend the Chapters of 
the Order in future, in order thus to become acquainted 
with its affairs.?? 

In view of the many difficulties which threatened the 
Order from within as well as from without, Francis very 
soon determined to obtain the Papal approval for the 
protectorate of the Cardinal. In this proposal he was 
strengthened by a vision. He beheld a small, black hen 
surrounded by a brood of chicks, so numerous that they 
could not find shelter under her wings. “The hen,” he 
said to himself, “am I, small of stature and dark of ap- 
pearance. The chicks are the brothers, increasing in num- 
bers and in the grace of God. The strength of Francis no 
longer suffices to protect them from the enmity of evil 
tongues. I will therefore go and recommend them to 
the Roman Church, by whose powerful scepter the evil- 
doers are put to naught, the children of God, however, 
enjoy full liberty to open more and more the treasure of 
eternal salvation. From this the brothers may know the 
sweet blessings of their Mother, and follow her direction 
with greater piety.” °° 

An unforeseen event soon led to the realization of this 
plan. During the sojourn of Francis in the Orient in 
1219, a crisis broke out in the Order.®® According to his 
usual procedure, Francis hastened to the Papal Court, to 
obtain counsel and direction. Ugolino obtained an audi- 
ence for him with Honorius III. But, fearful lest he 
appear troublesome, the humble Friar waited at the door 
of the Papal apartments until the Holy Father should 
appear. As soon as the latter emerged from his room, 
Francis bowed deeply before him and said: “Lord Pope, 
may God grant thee peace!” Honorius replied: “God 
bless thee, my son!” “Lord, since thou art a mighty ruler, 
and art often detained by grave affairs, the poor cannot 
always find access to thee when in need of thy help. Thou 
hast given me many popes. Appoint one of them with 


64 TESELIDBEALSOISTEER AIRES 


whom I may speak, whenever it is necessary, and who 
may give heed and settle the affairs of the Order in thy 
place.” “Whom, then, dost thou desire?” replied Hono- 
rius. “The Lord of Ostia,” said Francis. The Pope con- 
sented, and from this hour Francis regarded Cardinal 
Ugolino of Ostia as his “Pope.” *° 

In fact, from that time there was hardly a weighty affair 
of the Order, aside from the organization of the fra- 
ternity and the final editing of the rule, in which Ugolino 
did not have a hand. Francis and Ugolino henceforth 
seemed as but one heart and one soul, so that Thomas of 
Celano could declare: “St. Francis clung to him [ Ugolino] 
as a son to his father, and as an only child to its mother; 
he slept and reposed carefree on the bosom of his kindness. 
Ugolino truly fulfilled the office of a shepherd in regard 
to Francis; but the name of shepherd he left entirely to 
Francis himself. The blessed Father ordained whatever 
was necessary; but that praiseworthy lord executed the 
enactments. Oh, how many lay in wait to destroy the 
seed of the new Order, particularly at its birth! Oh, 
how many endeavored to choke the chosen vine which the 
hand of the Lord had planted so mercifully in the world! 
How many strove to steal and consume the first and purest 
fruits of this vine! All these were routed and put to 
naught by the sword of this venerable Father and Lord 
Cardinal. For he was a stream of eloquence, a bulwark 
of the Church, a champion of truth, a friend of the lowly. 
Blessed therefore and memorable the day on which the 
Saint entrusted himself to so exalted a lord!” 41 

At the time when Celano penned these words (1228- 
1229), Ugolino had just ascended the Papal throne as 
Gregory IX (1227). Among the first and most important 
acts of his pontificate was the canonization of his friend,*? 
and the exposition of the rule of the Order in the spirit 
of its blessed Founder.*? A large number of documents 
give proof of the constant and touching loyalty of Gregory 
IX to the heritage of St. Francis.44 The following inci. 


RINGE ON Tae Ee or IRA A Gs 


dent strikingly illustrates the familiarity with which the 
brothers at all times turned to their illustrious protector 
and friend. In 1238 Jordan of Giano, who relates the 
incident himself, journeyed to Rome in order to appeal 
against the arbitrary conduct of the General, Elias of 
Cortona. Gregory, who was sick abed, welcomed Brother 
Jordan heartily, but, owing to his indisposition, soon dis- 
missed him. The latter, however, was by no means anx- 
ious to leave the room, but running to the bed of the sick 
Pontiff, he drew one foot of the Pope from under the 
covers, kissed it, and said jokingly to his Friar com- 
panion: “Brother, such relics we have not in Saxony.” 
The Pope again bade them to leave the room, but Jordan 
hastened to say: “Not so, Lord, we have nothing to ask 
for the present. By your grace we are well provided and 
happy. For you are the Father, Protector and Corrector 
of the Order. We came for one thing only, to see you.” 
At these words the Pontiff’s mood changed; he became 
very affable, and, rising up in his bed, he began to speak 
of the affair which had brought Jordan to him, and prom- 
ised relief.*° 

As Jordan correctly points out, Francis and his Order 
beheld in the Cardinal Protector not only a friend who 
would foster and protect the Order, but also the guardian 
and disciplinarian, who would at times remind them of 
their duties toward the Apostolic See and the holy Catholic 
Church. When the Saint, together with Ugolino, defi- 
nitely fixed the institution of the Cardinal Protectorate, he 
commanded; “I command the Ministers by obedience that 
they petition our Lord the Pope for one of the Cardinals 
of the Holy Roman Church, who shall be the governor, 
protector, and corrector of the fraternity; so that, being 
always subject and submissive at the feet of the same 
holy Roman Church, and steadfast in the Catholic Faith, 
we may observe poverty and humility and the Holy 
Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ, as we have faithfully 
promised.” 46 


66 ASE LD eds SL O ER Sy lee Ne RS 


4. That was, in fact, the motto of Francis: to be ever 
subject and submsssive to the holy Roman Church. 

In his sermons and instructions he admonished the faith- 
ful, the clergy and his own brothers to adhere most closely 
to the Church. Celano graphically describes the preaching 
of Francis in these words: ‘‘So great was the faith of 
men and women, so deep their reverence toward the Saint 
of God, that whosoever touched but the hem of his habit, 
deemed himself indeed blessed. Whenever he entered a 
city, the clergy rejoiced and rang the bells, men and 
women became jubilant, the children gleefully clapped their 
hands, broke branches from the trees, and met him with 
songs of joy. The damnable heresies were routed, the 
faith of the Church strengthened, and while the faithful 
rejoiced, the heretics were put to flight. . . . He declared 
most strongly that in all things and above all things, the 
Faith of the holy Roman Church should be maintained, 
revered and observed; that in this Faith alone was salva- 
tion, and by this Faith alone all could be saved. At the 
same time he respected the priests, and esteemed every 
clerical dignity very highly.” 47 The clergy, on the other 
hand, were admonished that in their life and their doctrine 
they should follow the “commandments of God, and the 
precepts of our holy Mother, the Church.” 48 He ex- 
horted his brothers even more strongly “that they observe 
faithfully the Holy Gospel and the rule, which they had 
embraced, and that they be in a special manner reverent 
and devout in regard to the Divine Office and the decrees 
of the#Church.” +? 

The various precepts of his rule breathe the same 
spirit. Aside from the vow of obedience which he renders 
to the Holy See, as mentioned above, the following pre- 
cepts are contained in the first rule:°° “It shall not be 
lawful” for any brother “to pass to another Order, nor 
to wander about beyond obedience, according to the com- 
mandment of the Lord Pope.” °! Furthermore: “No one 
shall be received contrary to the form and institution of 


3 


REIN GET KINDER BESTE USER or 


the Holy Church.” 5® Then he prescribes that the brothers 
should follow the regulations of the Church in regard to 
the Divine Office: the clerics should recite it as other 
clerics;5® the lay-brothers, by praying a certain number 
of “Our Fathers” for each canonical hour, as the Church 
had already provided for the rule of the Knights Templar 
at the Council of Troyes (1128).°* In the chapter on the 
preachers he commands: “Let none of the brothers preach 
contrary to the form and the institution of the holy 
Roman Church.” 5° The nineteenth chapter bears the ex- 
plicit inscription, “that all the brothers must live in a 
Catholic way.” Then follow these trenchant words: “Let 
all brothers be Catholic and live and speak in a Catholic 
manner. But if anyone should err from the Catholic 
Faith and life in word or deed, and will not amend, let 
him be altogether expelled from our fraternity. And let 
us hold all clerics and Religious as our masters in those 
things which regard the salvation of souls, if they do not 
deviate from our religion, and let us reverence their office 
and order and administration in the Lord.” °® In the 
twentieth chapter he speaks of the confidence which the 
brothers should show the “Catholic priests” in confessing 
their sins.°* Toward the end of the rule he entreats not 
only the brothers, but all the faithful, to remain loyal to 
Catholic doctrine and Catholic life: “And all we Friars 
Minor, useless servants, humbly entreat and beseech all 
those within the holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, wish- 
ing to serve God, and all ecclesiastical orders, priests, 
deacons, subdeacons, acolytes, exorcists, lectors, door- 
keepers, and all clerics; all religious men and women, all 
boys and children, poor and needy, kings and princes, 
laborers and husbandmen, servants and masters, all con- 
tinent virgins and married people, laics, men and women, 
all infants, youths, young men and old, healthy and 
sick, all small and great, and all peoples, clans, tribes 
and tongues, all nations and all men in all the world, who 
are and shall be, that we may persevere in the true Faith 


68 THE’/IDEALS OFSTPFERAMCHTS 


and in doing penance, for otherwise no one can be 
savedan > 

The same spirit of reverence toward the Church per- 
meates the final rule. In this rule, however, these ex- 
hortations are more condensed and precise, corresponding 
to the shorter and more definite form of this rule. The 
entire tenor of the second rule is therefore logically car- 
ried forward to the final harmonious accord: ‘‘so that, 
being always subject and submissive at the feet of the 
same holy Roman Church, and steadfast in the Catholic 
Faith, we may observe poverty and humility and the Holy 
Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ, as we have faithfully 
promised.” °9 

The same is true of the Testament of St. Francis. In 
the beginning of this inspiring document the dying Patri- 
arch declares: “The Lord gave me, and still gives me, 
such faith in priests who live after the manner of the 
holy Roman Church, on account of their orders, that, if 
they persecuted me, I would still have recourse to them.” 
And in the course of his last will he gives the following 
injunction, which can be understood only in view of his 
most loyal adherence to the Church: “If any Friar be 
found who is not really Catholic, in such case all the 
Friars wherever they are, shall be bound by obedience to 
bring him before the Custos of the nearest place where he 
is found. And the Custos is strictly obliged under obe- 
dience to keep him as a prisoner day and night, so that the 
Friar cannot be taken out of his hands, until he can per- 
sonally put him into the hands of the Minister. And the 
Minister is strictly bound by obedience to send the Friar 
with others, who shall guard him as a prisoner day and 
night, until they present him before the Lord Cardinal of 
Ostia, who is the Lord and Protector and Corrector of 
this fraternity.” Finally Francis declares emphatically, 
that he has made his Testament for the purpose only “that 
we may in a more Catholic manner observe the rule we 
have vowed to the Lord.” ®° 


DIREN GH AND ITLELEFGETR CERT ae 


Thus we find Francis to be personified loyalty to the 
Church. To believe with the Church, to pray, to live, 
to work, to think, to feel with the Church—sentire cum 
Ecclesta—is for him an axiom as self-evident as the axiom 
to follow in all things the Holy Gospel. There is not one 
moment and not one episode in the life of the Saint, nor 
a single passage in the authentic biographies of him, 
which could disturb in any manner this delightful har- 
mony between the Poverello and the Church. In no 
other Founder of a Religious Institute before him—and 
they were all loyal ‘to the traditions of the Church—do 
we find the truly Catholic sense so fully developed and 
so charmingly, yet so strongly and frequently expressed, 
as in the Patriarch of Assisi. The Premonstratensian 
Prior, Burchard of Ursperg (died 1230), who was well 
acquainted with the work of Francis and of his first dis- 
ciples, lays great stress upon this characteristic: “The 
Friars Minor are submissive to the Apostolic See in all 
things.” 6° The Church herself, in the liturgical Office of 
the Saint, has accorded him the singular title: “Francis, 
the Catholic”: 


“Franciscus, vir catholicus 
Et totus apostolicus, 
Ecclesiz teneri 

Fidem romane docuit, 
Presbyterosque monuit 
Prez cunctis revereri.” ® 


5. The far-reaching and frustful results of this deeply 
Catholic sense were as pronounced for the Church herself 
as for the Order. 

Although the Popes of that period joined an ardent 
zeal for reform to their worldly position of splendor and 
power, the condition of the Church was nevertheless all 
but hopeless. Bishops and priests struggled in vain to 
check the flood of licentiousness which was spreading 
among all classes of society, due in part to the fact that 


79 TE ED EA SS FEB ER EN 


they themselves had become infected with the spirit of 
worldliness, and in consequence gave an example far 
from edifying; with the result that the respect due their 
exalted office had almost reached the zero point. 

This condition of affairs produced a fertile soil for the 
propaganda of certain heretics generically known as the 
Cathari, or the Pure. They rejected the Old Testament, 
claiming that its God was no other than Satan; con- 
demned marriage; denied the dogma of the resurrection 
of the body; and declared the eating of flesh-meat and 
the killing of animals as sinful and forbidden. The oath 
was placed in the same class as murder and adultery. The 
images of the saints, the cross, the sacraments, the entire 
ceremonial of the Church—all these were regarded by 
them as an abomination. The Church itself, the Papacy, 
bishops and priests, they designated as the society of the 
anti-Christ. They attacked the civil authorities with equal 
vehemence, and thus undermined the power of the State as 
well. At the same time they indulged in the most shame- 
ful practises of lust under the guise of extreme conti- 
nence, and infected all society with their poisonous doc- 
trines. Southern France especially, and northern Italy 
became the hotbed of their activities, but gradually all 
countries of western Europe were infested by these ne- 
farious sects.** Some time before, about 1150, St. Hilde- 
garde had already urged kings and princes and all the 
faithful “to expel from the Church these heretics, who 
contaminated the whole earth, despised the divine law 
which bade men to increase and multiply, who grew lean 
with fasting and at the same time gave themselves to 
most shameful lust, who contemned all laws given by God 
through Moses and the Prophets, and finally through His 
own Son.” She declared that they should be punished 
with confiscation of their goods, but not with death, since 
they also were created to the image of God.® Toward 
the end of the century, according to the testimony of 
Cesar of Heisterbach, the Cathari had devastated nearly 


TREADS BEN. DEE GEBR CH (iat 


one thousand cities, and threatened the ruin of all 
Europe.®® 

On several occasions men indeed arose within the pale 
of the Church, who sincerely strove to accomplish needed 
reforms. We need but mention Waldus and the Poor 
Men of Lyons and of Lombardy. These movements, 
however, shortly after their inception—about 1170— 
began to conflict with Catholic doctrine and with the 
hierarchy of the Church. The remedy invariably proved 
more harmful than the evil itself. The Church was finally 
forced to view with distrust every new movement toward 
reform. 

This was the state of affairs when Francis appeared 
before Innocent III. It is obvious that the great Innocent 
at first showed great reluctance. It was the unconditional 
surrender of the Poverello to the cause and the teachings 
of tne Gospel, joined to his unreserved submission to the 
ecclesiastical authorities, which convinced Innocent that 
the Poor Man of Assisi was indeed called to save the 
Church from utter ruin. By his sincere and earnest en- 
deavor to carry out the work of reform in complete sub- 
mission to the spiritual authorities, Francis became, with 
St. Dominic, the savior of Christendom in times of ex- 
treme peril, became “a reformer of most far-reaching 
importance, whose saving influence reaches out through 
the centuries, comparable to the pure, unsullied fountain 
of the Gospel, springing forth from eternal wisdom 
and love.” 9 

For his Order also Francis established the most secure 
foundation, anchoring it to the twofold pole: return to 
the Gospel, and complete submission to the Church. With- 
out the wise and benevolent guidance of the Church, 
Francis, more idealist than realist, could never have built 
up his institution to a strong, living organization. And 
much less could he have saved it from the rocks of heresy. 
The history of the Waldenses and of the Humiliati let us 
surmise what may have become of the Franciscan Order 


72 THE I DEN US OIBSSIE ER IE 


had it not followed strictly and faithfully the guiding 
hand of the Church in carrying out the ideal of the 
Gospel. Men of great promise had arisen and preached 
against the crying evils and vices of the times, had chosen 
poverty, penance, humility, charity and brotherly love as 
their standard, and sought to enlist others under their 
colors. As barefooted mendicants they traversed city 
and country, embracing in their ranks clerics and lay, 
nobles and artisans, lettered and unlettered. What had 
become of them? Obstinate heretics, adventurous dream- 
ers, buddhistic ascetics, fanatic seducers. 

That Francis was preserved not only from these pit- 
falls, but also from any false step in carrying out his 
ideals, he owes to the influence of the Church, and to 
his loyal submission to her wise guidance. Under her 
protection and motherly care he was able to develop 
fully his own splendid personality, and his world-em- 
bracing undertaking. She was to him indeed a true 
Mother and guide, who not only understood how not to 
smother his fiery idealism, but to guide, bless and bring 
it to fruition. 

The Saint was fully conscious of this. That he con- 
stantly emphasized and practised devotion and loyalty to 
the Church, was the result of his deep conviction and 
manifold experience that the Church, the divine institute 
of salvation upon earth, was his greatest benefactress and 
safest guide. His beloved disciple Giles expressed this 
in his wonted wise and simple manner: “O Holy Mother 
Roman Church! We ignorant and miserable ones do 
not know thee or thy kindness. Thou teachest us the 
way of salvation; thou preparest and showest us the 
path, by which if anyone walketh, his feet shall not stray, 
but attain to glory.’ 68 

In fact, it has been shown repeatedly that the institute 
of the Patriarch of Assisi proceeded safely and unerringly 
on its march through the ages only when its compass 
pointed unfailingly toward the Church. As soon as the 


FRANCISANDTHECHURCH 7 


needle of this compass wavered in any manner, or de- 
flected from this course, the Order experienced periods 
of decadence and internal dissension. We need but point 
to the Spirituals, who, while endeavoring to realize the 
Ideal of St. Francis in its utmost purity and rigor, yet 
perished so miserably because they strove to accomplish 
this without obedience to the Church. The return to the 
Gospel under the guidance of the Church—that must ever 
remain the motto of the Franciscan Order if it is to pre- 
serve untarnished the Ideal of its Holy Founder, and 
thus be the means of sanctification unto itself and unto 
the world. 


CEDARS: 


FRANCIS ANDFIITS’EOVTAOEFROVERTET 


HE poverty of St. Francis! It might seem indeed 
ae first sight as if this chapter interrupted the course 

of thought hitherto developed, which was merely 
an elucidation of the Ideal of Francis: the return to the 
full and exact observance of the Gospel. It will be seen, 
however, that poverty according to the conception of 
the Poverello of Assisi, is simply the basis of evangelical 
perfection; that to Francis the life after the manner of 
the Gospel is identical with a life of poverty. For this 
reason this subject must be treated more fully than any 
other, if we are to understand properly the spirit of the 
Seraphic Saint. Of immediate interest to us in this regard 
is his love of poverty, a love so singular and significant 
both as regards the fact as well as the motive. 

1. In Francis the love of poverty was a gift of nature 
and of grace as well. God had endowed him with a 
generous and sympathetic love toward the poor and needy. 
This happy disposition grew in him from childhood, and 
gradually developed in his character a trait of such 
benevolence, that, even then a docile pupil of the Gospel, 
as St. Bonaventure remarks, he resolved never to refuse 
a beggar, above all when appealed to for the love of God. 

In this regard not only his chivalrous nature, but also 
his youthful prodigality was a contributing factor. At 
one time, when he had regaled his comrades with a sump- 
tuous feast, he entered into himself and said: “If thou 
art so liberal and courtly toward men from whom thou 
canst receive naught but empty and transitory favor, it is 

Nr 


Dt OPV) Et Gye BOVE Ro 75 


but just, that thou shouldst also be liberal and courtly 
toward the poor for the love of God, who is most generous 
in rewarding.” From that moment he began to love the 
poor more dearly, and to give alms with a lavish hand. 
And, as the Three Companions remark, though he was 
a merchant by profession, he had the most unbusinesslike 
trait of giving away money most freely.” 

On one occasion, however, when he happened to be 
very busy at the cloth-counter, he repulsed a beggar who 
had asked an alms for the love of God. But hardly had 
he realized how thoughtlessly he had acted, when he was 
seized with deep remorse and he said to himself: “If 
that poor man had asked thee for something for the sake 
of a great count or baron, thou wouldst surely have given 
it; how much more shouldst thou have been generous for 
the sake of the King of kings and the Lord of all?” 8 
Deeply imbued with the spirit of faith, Francis had 
already begun to behold in the poor man the ambassador 
of the Most High, and his chivalrous spirit regarded it a 
most discourteous act not to place this ambassador above 
petty nobility, and to receive him with truly royal honors. 
Roused to sudden action by this thought, Francis hurried 
from the shop, rushed after the beggar and, having found 
him, gave him a generous sum of money; and he resolved 
never in future to refuse a request made in the name of 
God, a resolve which he kept unbroken until death, and 
which obtained for him God’s choicest blessings in the 
course of his life.? 

The most signal grace was no doubt this, that hence- 
forth he made the cause of the poor his own, and began 
to strive after poverty as a most desirable treasure. One 
day, as often before, he had gathered his boon companions 
about him for a festive banquet. The feasting being 
over, they marched as usual through the streets of Assisi, 
singing and rollicking, with Francis at their head in the 
role of King of Youth. Suddenly he was touched by the 
hand of God. He stopped as if transfixed, his soul flooded 


76 TH BLENDE AP Se Oi abe BRIAN ES 


with such sweetness that he neither saw nor heard. His 
friends roused him from his seeming reverie, and teas- 
ingly asked him: “Whereof wast thou dreaming, Francis, 
and why dost thou not follow us? Art thou thinking of 
taking to thyself a bride?” Francis replied joyously: “Ah 
yes, truly! I was thinking of taking a Bride, one more 
noble and wealthy and beautiful than you have ever seen.” 
This answer, of course, gave his comrades more cause for 
raillery; but, thus remark the Three Companions, he 
said this not of himself, but by divine inspiration, for 
the Bride, more noble and wealthy and charming than all 
others, was the holy Lady Poverty, whom he was to 
espouse.° 

From this hour “he began to withdraw more and more 
from the vanities of the world, and to hide the treasure 
which he strove to acquire at the cost of all earthly things, 
from the eyes of fools. ... He had been heretofore a 
benefactor of the poor, but now they became his most 
dear friends. As often as he met a beggar on the street, 
he would give him money; if by chance he’had no money 
to give, he would part with his head-covering or his shoes, 
so as not to let the beggar go away empty-handed. If he 
had not even this to give, he would hasten stealthily to 
some obscure spot, divest himself of his shirt, and send 
the beggar thither with the behest to take it for the love 
of God. He purchased various things for churches and 
sent them secretly to poor priests. One time, in the 
absence of his father, he was to take his repast alone 
with his mother, yet he ordered the entire table to be set. 
When his mother asked him wonderingly why he had so 
many portions of bread prepared, he replied that he 
intended to distribute them to the poor, since he had 
promised never to refuse anyone who asked alms for 
the love of God. . .. 

“His sole desire was to visit the poor and listen to their 
pleadings, so as to give them alms. Moved by divine 
grace, he desired, though still in the world, to be in some 


HISLOVEOFPOVERTY 77 


city where he was unknown, and thus able to exchange 
his clothing with the rags of some beggar, and to beg 
alms like them for the love of God. 

“Some time later, on the occasion of a pilgrimage to 
Rome, he found a number of beggars on the steps of 
the church, and, borrowing the clothing of one, unnoticed, 
he exchanged them for his own sumptuous garments, and 
began to beg alms in French with the other poor people. 
He then returned the beggar’s clothes, put on his own 
garments, and returned to Assisi, beseeching God to reveal 
to him the way of poverty. But he made known his 
secret to none except to the Bishop of Assisi. For at 
that time no one professed true poverty, which he desired 
above all things of this world, and in which he resolved 
to live and die.” ® 

Nevertheless, he could not refrain from repeating that 
he was indeed courting the noblest, richest, and most 
beautiful Bride, whenever his friends asked him about 
his marriage plans.” Completely fired by this thought, 
he now set out to woo his chosen Bride. 

Taking with him several bales of cloth, he mounted a 
horse, and set out for Foligno. There he disposed of 
the cloth, and also of the horse, and, with the proceeds of 
the sale, returned to Assisi. His only thought was now, 
what to do with the money he had thus obtained, for his 
conversion to the cause of poverty had now reached the 
stage, that even the money he carried with him had 
become a burden and a cause of anxiety. Approaching 
his native town, he met a poor priest at the sadly neglected 
church of San Damiano. He reverently kissed the hands 
of the priest, gave him the entire sum of money, and 
explained to him the plan which had ripened in his 
mind. But the latter, no doubt fearing the wrath of 
Peter Bernardone, refused to accept the money; where- 
upon Francis threw it upon the ledge of a window, 
regarding it as so much dust. “For, he desired to possess 


78 TH ED BASS sO aS PERS NGS 


the wisdom that is more precious than gold, and the pru- 
dence that is more precious than silver.” ® 

This chivalrous wooing of Lady Poverty was not to be 
accomplished without the cost of heroic sacrifice. His 
father, Peter Bernardone, much wroth both over the loss 
of the money and over the seeming folly of Francis, had 
him put in chains, cast into prison, and finally brought 
before the episcopal court, with the avowed purpose of 
either bringing him to his senses, or at least of regaining 
the money so carelessly thrown away. On the advice of 
the Bishop, Don Guido Secundi, Francis sent for the 
money, which was still lying undisturbed at San Damiano, 
and returned it to his father. He likewise divested him- 
self of his clothing, with the exception of his hair-shirt, 
and cast them at the feet of his father, exclaiming: “Hear 
ye all, and understand: until now I have called Peter 
Bernardone my father; but because I propose to serve 
the Lord, I return to him his money, and all the clothes I 
had of him: for now I wish to say no longer: father 
Peter Bernardone, but, Our Father, who art in heaven.” ® 
\ Such was the betrothal of St. Francis with Lady Pov- 
“erty, as sung by the poet of the Divina Commedia in the 
immortal lines: 


“A dame, to whom none openeth pleasure’s gate, 
More than to death, was, ’gainst his father’s will, 
His stripling choice: and he did make her his, 
Before the spiritual court, by nuptial bonds, 

And in his father’s right: from day to day, 
Then loved her more devoutly.” 1° 


Supremely happy in the love of his newly found bride, 
Francis walked with her in the way of perfection, which 
the Lord was to show him more and more plainly. He 
wore no clothing, save the hair-shirt and an old cloak 
which he had received from a servant of the Bishop. 
This he marked with a cross, the escutcheon of the knight- 
hood of Christ. One day he fell in with robbers, and was 


HISLOVEOFPOVERTY 79 


stripped of even this poor garb; he then obtained from 
a friend at Gubbio a dress similar to that worn by hermits 
and pilgrims: a short tunic with a leather girdle, shoes and 
a staff. In this apparel he toiled for two years in build- 
ing and repairing churches, living the while on the charity 
of kind people, and surpassingly happy in the love of his 
bride, Lady Poverty. 

Then it happened that one day—it was the 24th of 
February, 1209 (1208)—he heard at Portiuncula the 
gospel of the Mass describing the sending of the apostles: 
“And going, preach, saying: The kingdom of heaven is 
at hand. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, 
cast out devils: freely have you received, freely give. Do 
not possess gold, nor silver, nor money in your purses: 
nor scrip for your journey, nor two coats, nor shoes, 
nor a staff.!!... .” These words sounded in his ears like 
a new revelation. “That is what I seek, what I desire 
with all my heart!” he exclaimed joyfully, cast away staff 
and shoes, exchanged the leather girdle for a rope, and 
fashioned a garment for himself out of coarse material.!? 

Now Francis was poor in the fullest sense of the 
Gospel. He soon realized that he was to be the founder 
of a fraternity of men as poor as himself. Inspired by 
his example, a nobleman of Assisi, Bernard of Quinta- 
valle, came to Francis and said: “Brother, I wish to dis- 
tribute all my earthly possessions according to thy word, 
out of love to God, who has given them to me.” Francis, 
loath to give an immediate decision, answered: “To-mor- 
row morning we shall go to the church, and see from the 
Book of the Gospels, what the Lord has taught His 
disciples.” 

Early the next day—it was the 16th of April—Francis 
and Bernard went themselves to the church of St. Nicho- 
las at Assisi, with a third companion, Peter Catanii, a 
lawyer.13 After fervent prayer, Francis requested the 
priest to open the Gospel three times at random. The first 
time they read: “If thou wilt be perfect, go, sell all thou 


80 TASB DBAS Orv: HERZ NIS 


hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in 
heaven, and come, follow Me.” The second time: “And 
he commanded them that they should take nothing for the 
way, no scrip, no bread, nor money in their purse... 
and that they should not put on two coats.” And the 
third time: “Who will come after Me, let him deny him- 
self, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” 

With a heart overflowing with joy, Francis thanked 
the Lord, who had deigned to point out the way of pov- 
erty for himself and his companions. Then he exclaimed: 
“Brothers, that is our life and our rule, and that of all 
those who are to join our fraternity. Go, therefore, and 
fulfil what you have heard.” They went accordingly, 
gave all they had to the poor, garbed themselves as Francis 
had done, and “lived with him after the form of the 
Gospel, as the Lord had revealed.” 14 

And they rejoiced exceedingly, as if they had found a 
priceless treasure in the possession of Lady Poverty, for 
love of whom they despised all earthly things as so much 
filth. And whithersoever they went, they exulted in the 
Lord, and Francis more than the others, and he sang the 
praises of the Lord after the manner of the French min- 
strel singers with a loud and clear voice, glorifying the 
mercy of the Most High, who had given them the long- 
lost treasure of Lady Poverty.¥® 

Having passed the springtime, so to speak, of their new 
life in rapturous joy, and tested their endurance in ob- 
serving absolute poverty, they journeyed to Rome to 
obtain the Papal approval for their mode of life. “Let 
us go to our Mother, the holy Roman Church, and make 
known to the Pope what God has begun to do through 
us, that we may continue what we have begun, accord- 
ing to His will and decree,’ said Francis.1® And he 
caused the new rule to be written with few and simple 
words.!” This rule consisted, with the exception of a 
few regulations, almost entirely of the passages from 
the Gospel relating to poverty, as he heard on the day of 


HISELORVEOPPROVERTE 81 


the birth of the Order.18 This rule he defended before 
Innocent III with such persuasive eloquence, that the 
Holy Father finally approved it, although harboring grave 
misgivings as to the possibility of its observance? In 
writing the later, as well as the final rule, Francis was 
guided likewise by his ardent love for poverty; for though 
he was later on forced by the change of conditions to 
modify the original rule, “he still commended poverty 
above all else in all his rules.” 7° 

The same ardent love for poverty inspired his entire 
life; it burned in his heart with an undying flame, and 
found utterance in all his words. Ofttimes he spoke to 
his disciples on poverty, reminding them of the words of 
the Gospel: “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the 
air nests, but the Son of Man hath not whereon to lay 
his head.” ?! He would often repeat the warning: “In 
the same measure as the brothers recede from poverty, 
the world will recede from them; they will seek and shall 
not find. But if they hold fast to my Mistress, Holy 
Poverty, the world will provide for them, for they are 
given to the world for its salvation.” Bound as he was 
to Lady Poverty with indissoluble ties, he awaited not 
her present, but her future dowry. The psalms dealing 
with poverty, such as: “The hope of the poor shall not be 
lost forever,” and: “The poor behold and rejoice,” he 
would sing with greater love and jubilation than others.*? 
Frequently he greeted the love of his heart with the 
words: “O my Lady, Holy Poverty, may God preserve 
thee!” “8 On every occasion he extolled her beauty and 
charm, yes, even in his dreams he beheld her revered 
image.** “There never has been a troubadour who sang 
to his lady love a song so bold, and words of such burning 
love, as Francis sings to the queen of his heart in his 
ideally chivalrous love of poverty.” 7° 

This truly chivalrous love of Francis for Lady Poverty 
finds its echo after many years in the words of his biog- 
rapher ; “The blessed Father, as long as he tarried in this 


82 THE DDIBEAHESTORESIRE ERZÄHL 


vale of tears, despised all treasures of men as dross. He 
aspired after the highest degree of perfection, and em- 
braced poverty with most ardent love. The Son of God 
Himself had been poor, and so he wished to espouse her 
whom everyone shunned, with undying love. And having 
become the lover of her image, he not only left father and 
mother, but renounced all things, so as to cling more 
faithfully to his spouse, and to be two in one spirit with 
her. He therefore embraced her in chaste love, and suf- 
fered himself never to live otherwise than as her spouse. 
He declared that this Lady Poverty was for his sons the 
way of perfection, the pledge and earnest of eternal trea- 
sure. No one can desire wealth as ardently as he desired 
poverty; no one guards a treasure as diligently as he 
guarded this pearl of the Gospel. Nothing saddened_his 
eye more than when he beheld within or without the 
house anything that was contrary to poverty. And, truly, 
his sole riches consisted, from the beginning of his life in 
the fraternity to his death, in a habit, a cord, and the 
breeches ; more he had not. His poor garb showed _where 
he had laid up his treasure. For this reason he was joyful, 
carefree, and happy; for he rejoiced that he had ex- 
changed all perishable treasure for a hundredfold.” 76 

When the Saint felt his end approaching, he roused 
himself once more to sing in his Testament that touching 
swan-song to his beloved Poverty.27 Then he gave vent 
to the rapturous joy of his heart, for, having kept his 
troth with Lady Poverty inviolate,® he admonished his 
sons to ever love and revere her with a chivalrous spirit,?® 
and passed away in the embrace of his all-beloved 
spouse.?® 


“Then the season came that He, 
Who to such good had destined him, was pleased 
To advance him to the meed, which he had earn’d 
By his self-humbling ; to his brotherhood, 
As their just heritage, he gave in charge 
His dearest Lady: and he enjoin’d their love 


HS 1 CAVERN OM OM Ee RPG 83 


And faith to her; and, from her bosom, will’d 
His goodly spirit should move forth, returning 
To its appointed kingdom; nor would have 
His body laid upon another bier.” 31 


Truly a wondrous love for poverty! So wondrous, 
that it appears indeed as one of those charmingly roman- 
tic plays of the Middle Ages. Many have attempted 
to solve its meaning. Mystic asceticism, beginning with 
the charming allegory, Mystical Nuptials of Blessed 
Francis with. Lady Poverty; ®* legendary literature, since 
the appearance of the ever-fragrant Little Flowers of St. 
Francis of Assist; the love of the masses, as expressed 
in the incomparable term “Il Poverello,” “the Poor Little 
Man of Assisi” ; poetry, since the day of Dante Alighieri 
and Jacopone da Todi; painting, since Giotto and Sas- 
setta; historical research of seven centuries up to our 
own day—all have endeavored to depict and extol the 
love of our Saint for holy poverty. The secret of this 
love will, however, remain unfathomed, if we fail to dis- 
cover its cause, its real, true motive. 

2. The reason why Francis dedicated himself and his 
Order to poverty, seems to be none other than that God 
Himself so enjoined it. In his endeavor to discover the 
will of God, the Saint requested to have the Gospel opened 
three times at random, as we have seen, and each time 
he read the law of evangelical poverty. He never doubted 
for a moment that this remarkable coincidence was a 
direct revelation coming from God. Throughout his life, 
and even on his death-bed, he appeals to this fact: “After 
the Lord had given me brothers, none showed me what 
I should do, but the Most High Himself revealed it 
to me.” 33 

However, this would demonstrate only that Francis 
regarded the strict observance of poverty as a duty, and 
that he fulfilled this duty with fullest resignation to God’s 
will. But if we ask why he embraced poverty with such 


% THE TD EALSIONSMERANCIS 


unprecedented, such bridal love, the answer is: because 
he beheld in poverty the basis of evangelical perfection, of 
the evangelical apostolate, and of the knighthood of Christ. 

That poverty was an essential element of the Gospel 
perfection, no one could ignore who was at all conversant 
with the Gospel. For this reason there never existed a 
Religious Order which did not prescribe it and consider it 
a necessary factor in the life of perfection. In the age 
of the Crusades the esteem for poverty was revived in a 
few chosen souls, together with the newly awakened en- 
thusiasm for the Holy Places. The foundation of “The 
Poor Knights of the Temple,” %* and of the Knights of 
St. John,?? the writings of St. Bernard of Clairvaux,?® and 
of the Benedictine Abbot Rupert of Deutz,?” as well as 
the entire movement toward poverty of the twelfth cen- 
tury, prove sufficiently that prior to Francis wide circles 
of thinking men were convinced of the necessity of pov- 
erty as a factor in a life of perfection. 

Francis belonged to this group of men long before his 
direct calling to a life of poverty was revealed to him by 
the threefold opening of the Gospel. On this occasion, 
however, the words of the Master became burdened with 
a new meaning for himself and his disciples. “If thou 
wilt be perfect, go, sell all thou hast, and give to the poor, 
and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come, follow 
Me.” 88 He now became firmly convinced, that poverty 
was not only one, but the basic condition of evangelical 
perfection. 

It is significant that, although Francis enjoined the 
observance of the Gospel in general, yet the original rule 
consisted almost exclusively of the scriptural texts relating 
to poverty. The Three Companions declare expressly that 
these texts embody that perfection after which Francis 
aspired with his whole soul.®® Of his first disciple Francis 
remarks: “The first Friar given me by the Lord was 
Brother Bernard, who was the first to accept most com- 
pletely the perfection of the Holy Gospel, giving away all 


ATS LOVEORPOVWERMLN 85 


his substance to the poor.” #° Cardinal John of St. Paul 
presented Francis to Pope Innocent III, referring at the 
same time to the former’s ambition in regard to the ob- 
servance of poverty: “I have found a most perfect man, 
who desires to live after the manner of the Gospel, and 
to observe evangelical perfection in all things.’ *! Be- 
cause of her great love for poverty, St. Clare of Assisi is 
called “the foremost emulator of St. Francis in preserving 
evangelical perfection.” ** Francis himself declares that 
Clare and her daughters have chosen by means of pov- 
erty “a life according to the perfection of the Holy Gos- 
pel.” 42 Before his death, he again admonished his daugh- 
ters to strive after the perfection of the Gospel, when he 
wrote to them these words: “I, little Brother Francis, 
wish to follow the life and poverty of Jesus Christ, our 
Most High Lord, and of His Most Holy Mother, and to 
persevere therein to the end. And I beseech you all, my 
ladies, and counsel you, to live always in this most holy 
life and poverty. And watch yourselves well that you in 
no wise depart from it through the teaching or advice of 
anyone.” #4 

Since Francis beheld in poverty a life of perfection, 
he calls it simply the evangelical manner of life, a life 
according to the form of the Holy Gospel. “He desires 
to live after the form of the Holy Gospel,” Cardinal John 
of St. Paul declares of him. “They lived after the man- 
ner of the Holy Gospel, which the Lord had revealed to 
them,” *° the Three Companions say of Francis and his 
first disciples. The Saint asserts the same in his Testa- 
ment: “And after the Lord gave me some brothers, no 
one showed me what I ought to do, but the Most High 
Himself revealed to me that I should live after the form 
of the Holy Gospel. ... And those who came to take 
this life upon themselves, gave to the poor all that they 
might have, and they were content with one tunic, patched 
within and without, by those who wished, with a cord and 
breeches, and we wished for no more.” #6 


86 ABs hog WDIERIISTOJEISMEILEERIRIN ITS 


It is evident, then, that under the Gospel, which he had 
chosen as a norm of life, Francis understood poverty 
before all else. In consequence of their poverty Francis 
styled himself and his sons simply, “the evangelical 
men.” 47 Even in death he admonished his brothers to the 
faithful observance of poverty, “placing the Holy Gospel 
before all other rules.” 48 There can be no doubt, there- 
fore, that he recognized and cherished poverty as the basic 
element of evangelical perfection. 

As the basic, but not as the exclusive element. Be- 
sides his Lady Poverty, Francis praised the entire crown 
of virtues which adorn the soul in company with pov- 
erty and give to it the fulness of harmonious beauty.*? 
But of one thing Francis was firmly convinced: that pov- 
erty was the basss, as well as the fruitful soil of all other 
virtues. 

One day the brothers asked him by what virtue we be- 
come dearest to Christ, and he answered: ‘Poverty, my 
brothers! Know, that poverty is the special way to salva- 
tion, for it is the food of humility, and the root of per- 
fection, the fruit of which is manifold, though hidden. 
Poverty is the treasure, of which we read in the Gospel, 
which was hidden in the field; to buy which you must sell 
all, and in comparison with which, all that can be given 
for its purchase, is to be accounted as nothing.” 5° This 
pre-eminent importance of poverty Francis beheld one 
day in a vision. There appeared to him a wondrously 
beautiful lady, who was adorned with precious jewelry, 
but covered with a poor mantle. The soul of Francis was 
evidently represented by the beautiful figure, his virtues 
by the precious jewelry, and his poverty, which protected 
and preserved these virtues, by the poor mantle.’! Jaco- 
pone da Todi therefore makes Poverty declare, in the dia- 
logue between Francis and herself, that she never appears 
without the company of the seven virtues inseparably 
united to her—charity, obedience, humility, continence, 


URS. EL BEWERTE @) Nive Roapbat 87 


chastity, patience, and finally hope, who is the “maid- 
servant” of the others: 


“Ch’io haggio qui sette sorelle, 
Tutte pretiose e belle. 

Me aver non puoi senza elle; 
Che tra se se l’han giurato. 


Queste son la Charitade, 
Ubidienzia e Umiltade, 
Continentia e Castitade, 
Patientia en sommo stato. 


Cameriera é la Speranza, 
Che ci dona consolanza, 
Onde avemo gran baldanza, 
Che lo ben sia meritato.” °? 


Francis furthermore esteemed and practised poverty as 
the soulof the three evangelical counsels and religious vows. 
One day a marvelous thing befell him. On the way from 
Rieti to Siena he suddenly met three poor women, so com- 
pletely alike in stature, age and countenance that they 
could not be distinguished one from another. As the 
Saint drew near, they bowed respectfully before him and 
greeted him with the words: “Welcome to Lady Pov- 
erty!” Francis was filled with inexpressible joy, because 
they had greeted in his person his most dear Lady Pov- 
erty. The apparition then vanished.®® St. Bonaventure 
remarks hereon: “By these women was signified the 
beauty of evangelical perfection, namely, of chastity, obe- 
dience, and poverty, all which shone forth in the holy 
man in equal beauty and glory, although he had chosen 
to glory in the privilege of poverty above all others.” °* 

The calling to the apostolate was for Francis a further 
incentive to poverty. The Saviour had sent His apostles 
in poverty to convert the world: “Going, preach, saying: 
The kingdom of God is at hand. Heal the sick, raise the 


88 THEEDERESITGHSTIER ANGELS 


dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out devils: freely have you 
received, freely give. Do not possess gold, nor silver, nor 
money in your purses, nor scrip for your journey, nor two 
coats, nor shoes, nor a staff; for the workman is worthy 
of his meat.” °° That these words of Christ were to be 
the norm of conduct for the Franciscan apostolate, be- 
came clear to Francis by divine revelation, and soon after 
also to his disciples.°° We know that Francis was always 
firmly convinced of the divine origin of this revelation. 
That was sufficient to determine him to choose his Lady 
Poverty as the constant and inseparable companion of his 
apostolic activity. 

He was confirmed in this determination by the need 
and the spirit of the times. Money and wealth was the 
watchword of the century. The Crusades indeed roused 
in some hearts the love for the poverty of the Saviour; 
but on the other hand they brought to the West a knowl- 
edge of the luxury and the treasures of the Levant, and 
thus became the occasion of a hitherto unknown greed for 
wealth and pleasure. The clergy also soon became in- 
fected with this cancerous disease. In place of devoting 
themselves to the care of souls, a large part of the clergy 
indulged in frivolous amusements and idle luxury, or 
became absorbed in the pursuit of filthy lucre.°” Inno- 
cent III, in the year 1200, stigmatized the clergy of the 
entire province of Narbonne in the following words: 
“All, from the highest to the lowest, allow themselves to 
be led by avarice, seek donations, and are open to bribery, 
so that they absolve the impious, and deprive the just of 
their rights for the sake of remuneration.” °° The prel- 
ates lived a luxurious life, wore lavish garments, kept 
a splendid court, and appeared at their visitations with 
such numerous retinue that the pastors were often forced 
to sell the church vestments in order to defray the costs 
caused by this extravagance. 

Since the ordinary revenue did not suffice to satisfy 
the greed for luxury and money of the clergy, recourse 


HISLOVYBEOHBOVERZEN 89 


was had to the dreadful evil of simony. Although this 
evil was combated by the Papacy since Gregory VII 
(1073), it continued, practically unabated, to infest the 
body of the Church. The bishops devised various ways 
and means to extort money from the priests, and these 
in turn indemnified themselves by seeking benefices, by 
legacy-hunting, and by demanding scandalously exorbitant 
fees for their priestly functions.” The Church employed 
alternately mild and severe measures, but without signal 
success. Innocent III still complained that in spite of all 
exertions of his predecessors, this simonistic pest could 
neither be cured by remedial measures, nor cauterized by 
fire. Thus the secular as well as the religious clergy 
lost every vestige of influence over the masses, who on the 
other hand clamored for apostles of poverty, and turned 
eagerly to those who declared war on the avaricious clergy. 

This the heretical Poor Men of France, Italy, and Ger- 
many had done in the last decades of the twelfth century. 
The Waldenses and their followers endeavored to lead 
back the clergy as well as the laity to the Gospel by imi- 
tating the poor life of the apostles. But instead of follow- 
ing out this ideal in submission to the ecclesiastical authori- 
ties, they openly declared war on them, maligned and 
reviled them,®? and thus were the cause of great spiritual 
havoc among the masses. They finally perished miserably 
in consequence of their unchurchly apostolate of rebellion 
and insubordination. 

St. Francis, on the contrary, combated this heretical 
movement by preaching and practising poverty, but allow- 
ing himself to be guided and directed by the Church.® 
Thus, poverty became the most powerful factor in the 
exercise of his apostolate, and the source of boundiess 
blessings for Christendom as well as of the never failing 
popularity of his Order. For this reason he cherished 
his noble Lady Poverty with undying love and the most 
loyal constancy. 

The love of Francis for poverty was furthermore 


9 THEIDEALS OF ST. FRANCIS 


the natural result of his ideal conception of Christian 
knighthood. Only by keeping this in mind can we solve 
the secret of that mystical relation of the Saint to his 
spouse, Holy Poverty. As Christ was the sovereign Liege 
Lord of the Saint, thus poverty was the beloved Lady 
of his heart. 

That was the natural result of his romantic and chival- 
rous character. A knight cannot be conceived without 
the services of chivalry rendered to his lady love. The 
Christian knight, however, abhorred the licentious philan- 
dering of a pagan and decadent knighthood, and devoted 
his life to deeds of heroism, achieving victory or death 
for his king and country. Chaste worship of woman- 
hood and the virtuous love of his lady have always been 
the outstanding characteristic of the true Christian 
knight.°* At the tourney and the various contests the 
knight paid homage to his lady love, and received the 
prize from her hands. In combat and in battle he drew 
courage and inspiration from the memory of his beloved. 
He worshiped his wife and bride with an affection at 
once strong and tender, for in the last instance his wor- 
ship of womanhood was rooted in the worship of the 
glorified womanhood of the purest of maidens, the 
Mother of the Saviour. It is a well-known fact, that the 
Meistersingers Walter von der Vogelweide, Werinher von 
Tegernsee, Konrad von Wuerzburg, Gottfried von Strass- 
burg, Brother Philip the Carthusian, Jacopone da Todi, 
and others, sought to promote the true honor and worship 
of woman by singing their choicest lays in honor of our 
blessed Lady with the divine Child. 

This noble conception of love we find fully developed 
in Francis, the true Christian knight. His love, however, 
as his knighthood, was of a purely spiritual nature. He 
loved with an inspired love, and his beloved was the 
Bride of his Saviour, the most noble Lady Poverty. 

How touching is the loyalty with which the Saviour 
loved His beloved Spouse, Holy Poverty! From the 


BE OO BI SSEERO VE Rane gI 


highest throne of heaven the Lord of angels came to earth 
to seek the Queen, shunned and despised by men. And lo! 
she awaited Him impatiently in the stable at Bethlehem, in 
the company of His Virgin Mother. She accompanied 
Him as His loyal Spouse through life, and was praised 
and cherished by Him above all things of this earth. And 
when the hour of disgrace and suffering had struck for 
Him, and He was abandoned by all, Poverty left Him 
for not a moment. She remained with Him when He 
was outraged and blasphemed. She remained with Him 
when He was spit upon, scourged and crowned with 
thorns. She did not abandon Him when He was nailed 
to the cross, naked and despoiled of all. And as He 
hung on the tree of shame, between heaven and earth, cast 
off by the earth and abandoned by heaven, she clung to 
Him and consoled Him. And though even His own 
Mother could not mount the cross with Him, sweet Pov- 
erty held Him in her loving embrace until death.® 

And after her divine Spouse had passed from this earth, 
no one was found who loved her as the Saviour had 
loved her, until Francis chose her for his bride. 


“She, bereav’d 
Of her first husband, slighted and obscure, 
Thousand and hundred years and more, remain’d 
Without a single suitor, till he came. 
Nor aught avail’d, that, with Amyclas, she 
Was found unmoved at rumor of his voice, 
Who shook the world: nor aught her constant boldness 
Whereby with Christ she mounted on the cross, 
When Mary stay’d beneath. But not to deal 
Thus closely with thee longer, take at large 
The lovers’ titles—Poverty and Francis.” 69 


In these words the prince of poets has designated the 
true source from which sprang the love of the Poverello 
for poverty: the knight of the cross loved his Lady Pov- 
erty, because she, now reviled and shunned, had once 


92 Tue Ee AE SS Ora or asta Aen CH 


been the Spouse of Christ; he loved her for the sake of 
Christ, in order to love and imitate the sovereign and 
divine Lover of Holy Poverty. 

Thomas of Celano asserts expressly: “Francis strove 
constantly to espouse Poverty with perpetual love, be- 
cause she had been the companion of the Son of God, 
but now was an outcast in the eyes of the whole world. 
He therefore became her faithful suitor, so that for the 
sake of this Spouse he left not only father and mother, 
but all things of this world.” © 

The Saint has formulated his life’s program, so to 
say, in these simple words: “I, little Brother Francis, wish 
to follow the life and poverty of Jesus Christ, our Most 
High Lord, and of His Most Holy Mother, and to perse- 
vere therein until the end.” 6% That explains why he was 
so deeply touched, if anyone asked alms for the love of 
God,® or if he chanced to meet a beggar: “In the poor 
he beheld the Son of our poor Lady.” ” He would 
often burst into tears when meditating on the poverty of 
Jesus Christ and His blessed Mother.” 

He found it impossible even to think of the poverty 
of the Virgin Mother and her divine Child without shed- 
ding tears. “One day, while he was sitting at table, a 
brother chanced to speak of the poverty of the Most 
Blessed Virgin, and how the divine Child was so com- 
pletely despoiled of all things. Immediately the Saint 
arose from the table with mournful sighs, and ate his 
bread with tears, kneeling on the bare floor. For this 
reason, he said, this virtue is the royal virtue, because it 
shone so gloriously in the divine King and Queen.” ?? 
And he added: “I will not lay aside this royal dignity 
which Our Lord Jesus Christ assumed when He became 
poor that He might enrich us by His poverty, and so make 
the poor in spirit to be kings and heirs of the kingdom of 
heaven. I will not lay it aside, I say, for the gift of all the 
false riches, which, for a short time, are granted.” 73 

That is the touchstone and token of the true knighthood 


PGs GeV OLE RO VERIEY 93 


of the Seraphic Saint: tender, yet strong love for the noble 
Lady Poverty, for love of the God-Man and His blessed 
Mother. His brothers were to prove themselves likewise 
true Knights of the Round Table by this sublime concep- 
tion of Holy Poverty. 

He inspired his first disciples to despoil themselves of 
all earthly possessions, because thereby they would return 
all things to their Saviour.“* He admonished them in the 
first rule: “Let all brothers strive to follow the humility 
and poverty of Our Lord Jesus Christ... . And let 
them not be ashamed thereof, but rather remember that 
Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the living and omnipo- 
tent God, was poor, and a stranger, and lived on alms, 
He Himself, and the Blessed Virgin, and His disciples.” 7° 
This love of poverty for the sake of Christ, Francis estab- 
lished as the perpetual and fundamental law of his Order 
in the final rule: “The brothers shall appropriate nothing 
to themselves, neither a house, nor a place, nor anything. 
And as pilgrims and strangers in this world, serving the 
Lord in poverty and humility, let them go confidently in 
quest of alms; nor ought they to be ashamed, because the 
Lord made Himself poor for us in this world.” 76 


CHABDBEREMI 


THE*FRANGISGAN ST DEAL OF WOW Eien 


HE love of Francis for poverty is the proper cri- 

terion by which we may also rightly estimate his 

Ideal of poverty. This Ideal is as singular and as 
sublime as his love for it. The Ideal of Francis may be 
expressed in two words: total renunciation of earthly 
things, and the greatest possible moderation in the use of 
these things. 

I. The renunctation of property without restriction, was 
unknown in the history of Religious Orders before Fran- 
cis and Dominic. Even the latter was influenced by the 
example of the Poverello.* The older religious institu- 
tions indeed observed the vow of poverty, but it meant 
only the personal renunciation of property on the part of 
the individuals, while the monastery and the Order as 
such always possessed property in common. “The most 
excellent and wise men of religious life before Francis 
and Dominic, renounced their possessions in this wise, 
that they held them in common,” remarks St. Bonaventure 
very correctly.” The old monasteries could not have ex- 
isted, nor have achieved their purpose in promoting divine 
worship and civilization, without property. But, unfortu- 
nately, the possession of landed properties by abbeys and 
other monastic institutions reached such vast proportions, 
and caused such luxury among the monks, that often 
barely a trace of the true ideal of poverty remained. 

Since the tenth century several Reform Congregations 
endeavored to return to the state of poverty and sim- 
plicity which true religion demanded, but without decisive 

94 


HER RE EDIPFA TI ah IVA RAY 95 


or lasting results. The most powerful reform movement 
in this direction was begun in the twelfth century by the 
Cistercians, and through the influence of St. Bernard 
spread to the various Orders of Knights.” But even the 
Cistercians never thought of renouncing their property. 
The reform consisted solely, with the exception of the 
elimination of all extravagance in the household, in man- 
aging and cultivating their lands personally, contrary to 
the prevailing system of renting them to tenants. But 
this system of personal management, which meant cheap 
labor and consequently high profits, again led to the rapid 
enrichment of the abbeys. 

Asa result of this state of affairs, the complaints against 
the enormous wealth of monasteries and of the feudal 
clergy became louder and more vehement in the course 
of the twelfth century. The reaction against this abnormal 
condition, started by Peter Waldes (since 1173), who 
advocated the total renunciation of property,® degenerated, 
after the lapse of a decade, into heresy.® 

When, therefore, Francis espoused the same cause, and 
attempted to realize the ideal of absolute poverty, the 
most zealous and intelligent among the princes of the 
Church doubted the advisability of this plan. Bishop 
Guido, of Assisi, to whom the Saint had made known 
his project, though filled with admiration for Francis and 
his brothers, could not forbear to remark: “Your mode of 
life, to possess nothing in this world, appears to me severe 
and difficult.” Francis replied: “Lord, if we were to 
have possessions, we should need weapons to defend our 
property. This would lead to lamentable law-suits and 
litigations, whereby the love of God and of the neighbor 
is so frequently violated. We therefore prefer to possess 
no temporal goods in this world.”* He replied in like 
manner to Cardinal John of St. Paul, who endeavored to 
induce Francis to join an Order possessing property, and 
professing either the Benedictine or the Augustinian rule.® 

Pope Innocent III also pointed out the aimost insuper- 


96 THEA DEAL SO ES dike Nic ES 


able difficulties in which an Order such as Francis pro- 
posed, would find itself involved: “My dear sons,” thus he 
addressed Francis and his disciples, “your life appears to 
Us too hard and bitter. Although We believe that you in 
your fervor may be able to bear it, still We must consider 
those who are to follow after you, and to whom such 
manner of life may seem too arduous.” It was only after 
the Pope had tested the invincible enthusiasm of Francis 
for the evangelical ideal of poverty, and at the same time 
had recognized in him the man supporting the walls of 
the Lateran church, as had been shown to him in a vision, 
that he approved their manner of living in absolute pov- 
erty, and he exclaimed: “Truly, that is the man by whom 
the Church of God will be supported and raised up 
Spain © 

It is not difficult to understand, on the one hand, the 
prudent reserve of the Church in regard to the reform 
advocated by Francis; nor, on the other, the firmness of 
the latter in advocating it. Celano makes it clear that 
Francis declined the suggestions made by the ecclesiastical 
superiors humbly, but firmly, not because he deemed them 
unworthy of consideration, but because he valued his 
Ideal more.!° His guide and norm in this matter, as in all 
others, was the Gospel. 

The poverty which the Saviour had embraced, and 
which He commended to His disciples, plainly excluded 
all possession. Christ declared of Himself: “The foxes 
have holes, and the birds of the air nests; but the Son 
of Man hath not where to lay His head.” 1! To the rich 
young man He said: “If thou wilt be perfect, go, sell all 
thou hast, and give to the poor, ... and come, follow 
Me.” 1. For those who wished to become His disciples, 
He laid down the one condition: “Every one of you that 
doth not renounce all that he possesseth, cannot be My 
disciple.” 18 And to His disciples, when sending them 
out to preach the Gospel, He said: “Freely have you 
received, freely give. Do not possess gold, nor silver, 


EB IDERIUNPFOVNERSEN 97 


nor money in your purses, nor scrip for your journey, 
nor two coats, nor shoes, nor a staff; for the workman 
is worthy of his meat.” !* And on all His disciples He en- 
joined: “Sell what you possess, and give alms. Make 
to yourselves bags, which grow not old, a treasure in 
heaven which faileth not.” 1? 

One thing was evident to Francis: in word and by 
example Jesus demanded of His disciples complete renun- 
ciation of all earthly possessions. They were to call 
nothing their own, neither in person, nor in common; yes, 
even the terms “personal” and “common” were unknown 
to the Saint, as they were unknown to the Gospel. The 
ideal of poverty, as set forth in the Gospel, meant liter- 
ally: complete dispossession in favor of the poor. 

Francis understood and practised poverty in this literal 
sense of the Gospel. Whatever he called his own before 
his conversion, he gave to the poor; and whatever he 
owed his father, Peter Bernardone, he returned to him, 
even the garments which he wore at the time.” He then 
clothed himself in a hermit’s garb, which was given him 
by a servant of the Bishop; this he exchanged later for 
the “evangelical” clothing, after hearing the words of 
the Saviour forbidding His disciples to wear two coats 
or shoes.8 “His entire riches consisted, from his en- 
trance into religious life until his death, in a single tunic, 
a cord, and breeches; more he possessed not.” 19 

Two years later, Bernard of Quintavalle also resolved 
“to give all he had to the poor, and to follow Francis in 
his manner of life and clothing.” He sent for Francis 
and said to him: “If one does not wish to keep the little 
or much which he has received from the Lord and pos- 
sessed for many years, what shall he do with it?” Francis 
replied that he ought to return it to the Lord, from whom 
he had received it. Bernard gave answer: “Brother, I will 
give away all my earthly substance, as it seems best to 
thee, for love of my Lord, who has given it to me.” They 
thereupon requested the priest to open the Book of the 


98 THERE PDE AES (Oi eo aie RAIN ET S 


Gospels thrice at random, and having thrice read the words 
of the Saviour demanding full renunciation of all earthly 
possessions, Bernard sold all he had, gave the proceeds 
to the poor, and clothed himself as Francis had done. 
Peter Catanii, the third one to join the holy company, did 
likewise.”° 

This course was followed whenever a new disciple 
asked to be received into the fraternity. Francis declares 
expressly in his Testament: “Those who came to take 
this life upon themselves, gave to the poor all that they 
might have, and they were content with one tunic, patched 
within and without, by those who wished, with a cord and 
breeches, and we wished for no more.’ 7! And he later 
admonished his brothers constantly, “that, as he had 
learned by revelation, the beginning of religion must be 
the fulfilment of the words of the Gospel: ‘Go, sell all thou 
hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in 
heaven; and come, follow Me. Therefore, he would 
admit none to the Order except such as would strip them- 
selves of all things, retaining nothing for themselves, as 
well in obedience to the words of the Holy Gospel, as to 
avoid the dangers and scandal which the reserving of 
earthly goods might occasion to the soul.” 2? 

In this dispossession, or renunciation of the world 
(renunciatio seculi), it was demanded that the novice 
distribute his substance to the poor, and not among his 
relatives, in accordance with the word of the Gospel. 
When a certain man, in the March of Ancona, asked to 
be received into the Order, Francis replied: “If thou wilt 
become one of the poor of Christ, give thy goods to the 
poor.” The man went his way, and, being led astray 
by carnal affection, he left his property to his kinsfolk, 
and not to the poor. When the holy man heard of this, 
he rebuked him severely, saying: “Go thy way, Brother 
Fly, for thou hast in no wise gone forth from thy kin- 
dred and from thy father’s house. Thou hast given thy 
goods to thy family, and hast defrauded the poor; thou 


TER TDA TA Orr BI ONE KEN 99 


art not worthy to be a follower of holy poverty. Thou 
hast begun with the flesh, and hast sought to raise a 
spiritual building upon a ruinous foundation.” The man 
returned home, and reclaiming his goods, which he was 
unwilling to give to the poor, he quickly forsook his holy 
purpose.?? Celano, who relates this incident, remarks 
hereon: “Many are deceived in these days by such a de- 
plorable distribution of their substance, seeking to attain 
to eternal life by worldly barter. For no one gives him- 
self to God by enriching his own kindred, but only by aton- 
ing for his sins at the price of generosity, and by gaining 
eternal life at the price of good works.” ** 

Francis only then permitted relatives to profit from 
this renunciation if they themselves were poor. One day 
a peasant who was plowing the field with a yoke of oxen, 
asked to be received into the fraternity. Francis as usual 
directed him to give all he had to the poor, according to 
the words of the Gospel. The young man in his simplicity 
then unharnessed one of the oxen, and leading the beast 
to Francis, said: “Brother, I have served my father and 
all my house for many years, and as for this there is a 
debt owing to me, I will take this ox as my portion and 
give it to the poor, as seems best to you.” As soon as 
the parents and the family of the young man heard of 
this, they began to lament bitterly, partly because he was 
to leave them, partly because of the loss of the ox, for it 
was a large and helpless family. The Saint thereupon 
bade them make ready a meal, and when they had eaten 
with much gladness, he said to them: “This your son 
wishes to serve God, and instead of opposing him, you 
should be glad thereat. For not only in the sight of God, 
but in that of the world, it is counted a great honor and 
advantage, both for soul and body, when one of your 
flesh and blood devotes himself to the Lord; and all our 
Friars will be your sons and brothers. And since he is 
a creature of God, and desires to serve his Creator, to 
serve whom is to reign, I cannot restore him to you; but 


100... THE ED BAA S70 Bisa Bie REAS Ges 


to comfort you, I do not wish him to despoil you of the 
ox, but that he should give it to you as to the poor, though 
according to the Holy Gospel it should be given to the 
other poor.” At these words all were consoled and they 
rejoiced, most of all because they were to keep the ox, 
‘which they had thought lost.?° 

For the same reason Francis would not permit his 
brothers to accept anything from the postulants, except 
in case of momentary need: “Let the brothers and the 
ministers of the brothers ... not receive any money, 
either themselves or through any person acting as inter- 
mediary ; if, however, they should be in want, the brothers 
may accept other necessaries for the body, money excepted, 
by reason of their necessity, like the other poor.” 7° But 
even in these cases of necessity, Francis was very loath to 
permit the Order to receive anything from postulants. 
For the sake of example, and in order to avoid the appear- 
ance of taking undue advantage of the good will of the 
postulants, he preferred to have recourse to other bene- 
factors.?? 

Under no circumstances would he permit the brothers 
to accept temporal goods for the purpose of retaining 
them for future use. Brother Peter Catanii (died 1221), 
at that time Vicar of the Order, complained one day that 
the poverty at St. Mary of the Angels was so great that 
the guests could not be properly received, and begged 
permission to reserve a part of the goods of the novices, 
so as to be able to supply the wants of the brothers in 
time of need. Francis, however, replied: “God forbid, 
beloved brother, that for any man whomsoever we should 
thus sin against the rule. I would rather have thee strip 
the altar of the glorious Virgin, should necessity so re- 
quire, than infringe in the slightest degree the vow of 
poverty, and the due observance of the Gospel precept. 
For rather would the Blessed Virgin see her altar un- 
adorned, and the counsel of the Holy Gospel perfectly 


PREBDERFOE POMERAEYN IOI 


observed, than that her altar should be ornamented, and 
the counsel of her Son set at naught.” °° 

The views of the Seraphic Saint regarding this point 
are reflected in the second chapter of the final rule, which 
reads: “If any wish to embrace this life, and come to our 
brothers, let them send them to their provincial ministers, 
to whom alone and not to others is accorded the power 
of receiving brothers. But let the ministers ... tell 
them the word of the Gospel, that they go and sell all 
their goods, and strive to distribute them to the poor. If 
they should not be able to do this, their good will will 
suffice. And the brothers and their ministers must take 
care not to be solicitous about their temporal affairs, that 
they may freely do with their affairs whatsoever the Lord 
may inspire them. If, however, counsel should be re- 
quired, the ministers shall have power of sending them to 
some God-fearing men, by whose advice their goods may 
be distributed to the poor. Afterward let them give them 
clothes of probation; namely, two tunics without a hood, 
and a cord, and breeches, and chaperon reaching to the 
cord,?? unless at some time the same ministers may de- 
cide otherwise according to God.” 30 

Thus the renunciation of property was as complete 
and as true to the Gospel as possible. Before entering, 
each postulant had to strip himself of his possessions, if 
possible, in favor of the poor; after his admission, the 
novice as well as the professed brother possessed nothing 
but the clothing designated by the words of the Mission. 
Outward conditions, as we shall see, soon made necessary 
the use of various articles for personal or common service. 
These, however, could never become the property of 
the individual or of the Order. On this point Francis 
remained inexorable until the end of his life. 

Before 1223, the rule contained the words: “Let the 
brothers take care, that wherever they may be, whether in 
hermitages or in other places, they never appropriate any 
place to themselves, or maintain it against another. And 


102: UEDA iS (Oui es EEE Roe les 


whoever may come to them, either a friend or a foe, a 
thief or a robber, let them receive him kindly.” 34 The 
rule of 1223 contained substantially the same: “The 
brothers shall appropriate nothing to themselves, neither 
a house, nor a place, nor anything. And as pilgrims 
and strangers in this world let them serve the Lord in 
poverty and humility. . . . This is the height of the most 
sublime poverty, which has made you, my dearest brothers, 
heirs and kings of the kingdom of heaven: poor in goods, 
but exalted in virtue. Let that be your portion, for it 
leads to the land of the living; cleaving to it unreservedly, 
my best beloved brothers, for the Name of Our Lord 
Jesus Christ never desire to possess anything else under 
heaven.” ®? At the moment of death the Saint is urged to 
admonish once more: “Let the brothers take care not to 
receive on any account churches, poor dwelling places and 
all other things that are constructed for them, unless they 
are as is becoming the holy poverty which we have prom- 
ised in the rule, always dwelling there as pilgrims and 
strangers.” 33 

Shortly after the demise of the blessed Father, some 
laxists nevertheless thought that at least the movable 
goods which they had in use, were the common property 
of the Order. The more zealous brothers became greatly 
saddened because of these suggestions, and feared for their 
own conscience as well as for the ideals of the Order. 
This caused Gregory IX to declare, as early as 1230, 
that, as an intimate friend of Francis, and his collaborator 
in compiling the rule, he knew perfectly the mind of the 
Holy Founder,** and he continued: “We declare, that the 
brothers may not possess property either in common or 
personally, but they should have implements and books 
and other movable goods for use only, and the brothers 
should use them according to the direction of the General 
and Provincial Ministers in such wise that the title of 
those to whom the places and houses belonged, be not 
violated.” 3° 


DI Ee) EN TOT DEO Ra ay) 103 


What strikes us most forcibly is, that Francis grasped 
the ascetical importance of this rigid poverty almost in- 
tuitively. To renounce all earthly possession meant to 
him to be stripped of everything earthly, and to belong 
entirely to God. “Holy poverty,” he was wont to say, 
“confounds cupidity and avarice, and the cares of the 
world.” 36 “Poverty is that heavenly virtue by which all 
earthly and perishable things are trodden under foot, by 
which all obstacles are removed in order that the spirit 
of man may freely unite itself to the eternal Lord and 
God. It enables the soul still dwelling on earth, to con- 
verse with the angels in heaven” ®” and in the moment of 
death “to go to Christ stripped of all things.” 38 

This conception of poverty is so ideal, that it includes 
not only the renunciation of all material things, but also 
of the inordinate affection for spiritual things. “He who 
would attain to this height of perfection,’ Francis de- 
clared, “must lay aside not only earthly prudence, but 
even all knowledge of letters, that, thus stripped of all 
things, he may come to see what is the power of the 
Lord,?® and cast himself naked into the arms of the 
Crucified. Neither does he perfectly renounce the world, 
who keeps a place for the treasure of his own will in the 
secret of his heart.” 4° 

2. The Franciscan ideal of poverty demands, besides the 
renunciation of earthly property, also the limsted use of 
earthly things. Francis did not originally recognize the 
distinction between property (proprietas, dominium), and 
use (usus). Aside from the coarse food which he pro- 
cured either by the labor of his hands, or by begging, 
the Poverello had nothing, and needed nothing, but his 
poor habit. But whether he possessed this habit, or 
merely had the use of it, was of no concern to him in 
those early days. It was in perfect accord with the Gospel, 
and it had been revealed to him by the Gospel. That 
sufficed. 

As Francis thought and lived, so the entire fraternity 


104  TBBIDEATLSO PSTIERANET 5 


at first thought and lived: “We were content with one 
tunic, patched within and without, by those who wished, 
_ with a cord and breeches. And we wished for no more.” *! 
Thomas of Celano describes the poverty of the first years 
in these words: “Because the disciples of most holy 
poverty possessed nothing and desired nothing, neither did 
they fear to lose anything. They were content with one 
tunic, which was frequently patched within and without. 
There was nothing fanciful about it, but all contempt 
and poverty, so that they might appear wholly crucified 
to the world. Girded with a cord, they wore cheap breeches, 
and they were firmly resolved to remain faithful to this, 
and to accept nothing more.” *? 

That the brothers should have been able to live without 
the use at least of other articles, can be understood only 
if we consider briefly the mode of life in the first decades 
of the Order. Those years were the period of itinerary 
preaching, in exact accordance with the Gospel. After 
the manner of Jesus and His disciples, Francis and his 
companions went forth into the world two by two, preach- 
ing penance. From time to time they returned to a desig- 
nated place, to rest from their labors and to refresh their 
spirits. A fixed dwelling-place they had not; food and 
shelter they obtained from day to day per amore di Dio— 
for love of God. 

Francis chose Portiuncula as the first point whence their 
activities were directed. It was situated a little below 
Assisi. There the Benedictines of Monte Subasio pos- 
sessed a small deserted church, called “Mary of the 
Angels,” #8 and it was here that Francis and his disciples 
first assembled. In order to protect themselves against 
the inclemency of the weather, they constructed a poor 
hut made of clay and willows next to the chapel, in which 
they lived together for a while.* 

But only for a while. As soon as the disciples had 
rested from their apostolic labors in the surrounding 
country, Francis again sent them out into all quarters 


THEIDEALOFPOVERTY _ 105 


of the compass to preach. A frugal meal was always 
assured them in hospitable Umbria. Shelter for the night 
they had to seek frequently in the porches of churches 
and of other buildings, in ovens,*® in grottoes, caves,*® 
or under the open sky; for in many instances they were 
regarded as thieves and vagabonds, and in consequence 
they found the doors closed against them.?” At the ap- 
pointed time they would assemble again at the chapel of 
Portiuncula. The Three Companions remark: “They had 
claim in no wise to property, but used the books and other 
things in common, according to the rule handed down by 
the apostles.” #8 

After a brief sojourn at Portiuncula, the apostolic 
band—they now numbered twelve—journeyed to Rome, 
in order to beg the approval of the Holy Father for their 
mode of life. On their return from Rome, they inter- 
rupted their missionary labors, making a stay of a fort- 
night in a deserted place near the town of Orte. Thomas 
of Celano describes their sojourn in this place, giving at 
the same time valuable information regarding the question 
of poverty: “Some of them went to the city and procured 
the necessary food, and the little which they had begged 
from door to door, they brought to the other brothers, 
and they ate it in common with hearty gratitude and 
rejoicing. But if by chance something remained over, 
and they could not give it to anyone, they preserved it for 
the next day in a cave, which at one time served for the 
burial of the dead. The place was solitary and deserted, 
and was sought out by few or no people. The brothers 
rejoiced exceedingly, because they neither saw nor pos- 
sessed anything which could have given them vain or 
carnal pleasure. Thus they began to have sweet converse 
with Holy Poverty,*® firmly resolved to remain faithful 
to her, here as elsewhere. Free from all earthly cares, 
and open to divine consolation only, they were irrevo- 
cably determined to be neither depressed by tribulations, 
nor shaken by temptations, nor separated from the em- 


106 THORIDERTSIORSTITRÄNGIES 


brace of Lady Poverty by anything. Although the charm 
of the place, which so easily may harm the strength of 
the spirit, in no wise diminished their zeal, they neverthe- 
less resolved to journey elsewhere, lest the attachment to 
a place give the impression, even outwardly, that they 
possessed property.” °° 

They therefore continued their apostolic journey until 
they arrived at Rivo Torto, about one mile from Portiun- 
cula, where they found an empty hut. This hut was in 
every way according to the heart of Francis, “For,” he 
remarked, “one goes more quickly into heaven from a hut 
than from a palace.” 5! The place was, however, so small 
that the brothers could scarcely sit or lie one next to 
another. In order to prevent any disturbance, when one 
wished to rest and another to pray, Francis gave to each 
one a place by writing his name on the rafters. Here 
they lived in great poverty, devoid of all things. Bread 
was frequently so difficult to obtain that they were forced 
to satisfy their hunger with turnips, which they had 
begged from the peasants in the country about Assisi. 
There was neither a church nor a chapel in the vicinity, 
and so the brothers assembled for their devotions before 
a large wooden cross which they had erected in front of 
the hut. Thus the days passed, until one day a mule-driver 
appeared with his beast and began to disturb the silence 
of the place with coarse and abusive language. Francis 
thereupon said to the others: “Brothers, I know that we 
are not called to give shelter to this beast, and to be dis- 
turbed by men, but to promote the salvation of souls by 
our preaching, our good counsel, our prayers and grati- 
tude.” °? And they forthwith returned to the chapel and 
hut at Portiuncula. 

Here they remained during the following years, the 
brothers steadily increasing in numbers, and gradually 
extending their journeys beyond the boundaries of Um- 
bria into the various provinces of Italy,°? even occasionally 
as far as Syria and Morocco.*4 Once or twice a year they 


TE Ee UDR ACEO. BORV ORTEN 107 


assembled at Portiuncula for Chapter, living under the 
open sky or in tents.°® In the intervals between Chapters 
they would occasionally find shelter for a few days or 
weeks in some deserted place, preferably in an improvised 
hermitage. The remainder of the time was spent in 
apostolic labors, wandering from place to place, and 
preaching penance. Naturally there was no question of 
a permanent abode and of the things necessary thereto, in 
this mode of life. The Three Companions remark, not 
without indicating the gradual change and development 
of conditions: “The brothers went through the world as 
pilgrims and strangers, and carried nothing with them on 
the way, except the books from which they prayed their 
hours. . . . And when evening began to fall, they took 
refuge with the priests, rather than with the people of the 
world. But if they found no shelter with priests, they 
stayed rather with spiritual and God-fearing people, until 
God inspired pious persons to prepare a hospice in the 
tities and villages, which the brothers wished to visit, as 
long as no places (loca) had been erected for them in the 
cities and towns.” °° 

Jacques de Vitry (died 1240), who became closely ac- 
quainted with Francis and the Friars in Italy in 1216, 
and again in the Orient in 1219, found conditions in the 
Order substantially the same as we have described them. 
The following is the testimony of the famous Cardinal 
and historian: “That is truly the religion of the poor men 
of the Crucified, the Order of preachers, who are called 
Friars Minor. They are in truth Friars Minor, and by 
reason of their clothing and poverty and contempt of the 
world and humility they surpass all Religious of their 
time. . . . They endeavor so zealously to renew the faith, 
poverty and humility of the primitive Church, and to draw 
the pure waters of the evangelical fountain in the thirst 
and fire of the spirit, that they, following not only the 
precepts, but also the counsels of the Gospel, strive most 
faithfully to imitate the apostolic life, renouncing all their 


108:  TSEEPAT DIE AMO SIDE SS TE FE hae 


possessions, denying themselves, and, destitute of all, fol- 
lowing the poor Saviour. . . . They are sent out two by 
two into the world to preach, as if going before the face 
of the Lord, and to prepare His coming. And these poor 
of Christ carry on the way neither purse nor scrip, nor 
bread, nor any money in their girdles, nor have they at 
all gold or silver or shoes. For no brother of this Order 
is permitted to possess anything whatsoever. They have 
no monasteries, nor churches, nor lands, nor vineyards, 
nor beasts, nor houses, or any property, nor as much as 
where to lay their heads. They wear neither furs, nor 
linen, but only tunics with a hood, not to mention surplices 
and cloaks and cowls, and such like garments. If anyone 
invites them to table, they eat and drink what is placed 
before them. If anyone gives them alms, they do not keep 
it for future use. Once or twice a year they assemble at 
a given time and place to conduct the General Chapter, 
with the exception of those who would have to make too 
long a journey by land or by sea. After the Chapter they 
are sent out again by the superiors, two by two, or more 
in number, into various regions and provinces and cities. 
Not only by their preaching, but more by the example of 
their holy life and their perfect conduct, they incite many 
people of the lower estate as well as of distinguished and 
noble rank, to despise the world, so that they leave their 
cities, their castles, and their lands, bartering away all 
their earthly substance for the blessed exchange of the 
clothing of the Friars Minor; namely, a tunic of little 
value with which they are clothed, and a cord with which 
they gird themselves. 

Maat Borithe brothers Bie ie those Sane enter a 
cord only with the tunic; all else they leave to Divine 
Providence.” 57 

As admirable as this carefree life of missionary activity 
may have been with its well-nigh heroic practise of 
poverty, the need of organization soon became apparent. 
Think of a fraternity without a novitiate, without train- 


ATP EATS AH AOE POMERIET 109 


ing of its members, with perfect liberty to enter to-day 
and leave to-morrow ; without legislation, with only a rule 
still in the formative period; without provincial and local 
superiors—welded together and guided solely by the per- 
sonal prestige of the Founder! In consequence of this, 
the difficulties increased from day to day, the more numer- 
ous the brothers, and the more extensive their sphere of 
activity became. When, therefore, Francis undertook the 
realization of his wider and greater purpose, the missioniz- 
ing of the whole world, he was confronted with the alter- 
native of either forcing his fraternity into the bonds of a 
firm organization, or of leading it to the brink of an 
inevitable catastrophe. 

Ominous signs of this impending catastrophe had al- 
ready begun to multiply. We read in the life of Blessed 
Giles that many brothers succumbed to the temptation of 
leaving the Order and returning to the world when occa- 
sion offered itself.°° The contemporaneous rhetorician 
Buoncompagno, of Bologna, likewise laments the incon- 
stancy of many Friars, some of whom were mere youths 
and striplings, who roamed about the world without check 
or restraint, and who made themselves guilty of various 
indiscretions, because they were left to themselves without 
the proper ascetical schooling and discipline.°® Jacques 
de Vitry also states in one of his letters, dated 1220, that 
the Order, sublime though it be, still was beset by great 
dangers, for the reason that not only men of mature age 
and tried virtue, but also unfledged youths, who were still 
in need of monastic training, wandered about the world.‘ 

After the Chapter of 1219 Francis had sent out brothers 
not only into the various Italian provinces, but also to 
France, Germany, Austria, Hungary and Spain, while he 
himself set out for Syria.°! Hardly had he left for his 
destination, when dark clouds gave portent of the impend- 
ing storm. Rumors from the Orient began to reach Italy 
that the holy Founder had died; that sufficed to start a 
dissolution, as it were, of the Order in Europe, attempts 


TO. I. HEN DIEATSIO BIS eee see 


being made to reform the organization.°” Francis imme- 
diately recognized the tragedy of these events, returned 
_ with haste to Italy, and, having sought counsel with Pope 
Honorius, he set to work with Cardinal Hugolino to give 
the Order a definite and lasting Constitution.®* In this 
manner the first rule of 1221 was written, and two years 
later the final rule of 1223. In this rule the Order is 
divided into provinces and custodies, a complete hierarchy 
of superiors is established, from the Ministers General 
down to the guardians; a novitiate is prescribed, terminat- 
ing with the perpetual vows, and every brother is placed 
under the obedience of his immediate superior.™ 

This was of the greatest moment in the development of 
the practise of poverty. In the first place, the ever chang- 
ing lodgings gave way to fixed “places” (loca), consisting 
of a “house” for the brothers, and a church or chapel for 
conducting divine services. The chronicles of Thomas of 
Eccleston and of Jordan of Giano establish the fact that the 
brothers everywhere settled in friaries even during the life- 
time of the Saint. The rules of the Order, and the Testa- 
ment of St. Francis place this fact beyond the pale of 
doubt. 

But in every way these Friaries had to correspond with 
the ideal of poverty. Whenever there was a question of 
building or accepting a house, Francis would remind his 
brothers of the word of the Saviour: “The foxes have 
their holes, and the birds of the air nests, but the Son of 
Man hath not where to lay His head.” 6 And he added: 
“When therefore the brothers go into a city where they 
have as yet no house, and someone is found who wishes 
to give them ground to build thereon a ‘place,’ with a 
garden and the other necessary things, let them take care 
above all, how much space suffices for them, considering 
poverty and the good example which we are bound to give 
in all things.” 6° On this ground the brothers were then 
to build poor dwellings, preferably of wood and clay.# 
Francis, however, would not fix any definite rule regard- 


Tech ie DASE O KB FRONGERARN III 


ing the material to be used, since he well knew that in 
some localities buildings of wood entailed greater cost than 
those of stone.®® Another reason soon presented itself. 
It is stated thus by St. Bonaventure: ‘“‘Wherever we are 
able, we build houses of stone; they are not destroyed so 
quickly by fire or age.” ®° 

But whether the house was built of wood or stone or 
other poorer material, Francis wished them to be small and 
to have space only for a limited number of Friars, as it 
was difficult to observe poverty amongst a large number.” 

Not even at Portiuncula, where at the time of the Gen- 
eral Chapters hundreds, yes, thousands of Friars as- 
sembled, would Francis allow large buildings to be erected. 
The only building which existed there, was the hut which 
he had built of clay and willows and covered with straw.”! 
The many hundreds of capitulars who had flocked thither 
from all quarters of the land, were forced to live under 
the open sky, or in tents.”” The Council of Assisi was 
anxious to remedy this condition, and, during the absence 
of the Saint, the good townspeople had erected a large 
building of stone. When Francis arrived for the Chapter 
and saw this mighty structure, he became sad, for he 
feared that the Friars would erect similar buildings in 
other places if such were allowed at Portiuncula, the cradle 
and model of the Order. He quickly climbed upon the 
roof, and began to tear off the tiles and laths, exhorting 
the brothers to give aid in destroying the building. But 
hardly had he begun the work of destruction, when the 
town-guard, whose captain happened to be the brother of 
Francis,’® arrived and commanded him to halt, saying that 
the building had been erected by the Council of Assisi, 
and therefore was the property of the city. “If that be the 
case,” replied Francis, “I will not touch your property.” 
And he permitted his brothers to live therein as guests.” 

He insisted also that the churches of the Order be small, 
even if they could not accommodate the masses on occa- 
sions of preaching or other solemnities ; “for,” thus Francis 


112  VTIEEEATDDRATSIO EST Sheen is 


reasoned, “humility is greater and the example more 
potent if the brothers betake themselves to other churches 
to preach. And if perchance prelates, clerics, Religious 
and lay people come to the place of the Friars, the poor 
houses, the cells and the small churches will preach, and 
they will be edified thereby more than by words.” 7? 

During the first years of the Order, when the brothers 
wandered about preaching, such small houses sufficed for 
their wants. A few years, however, of living in established 
Friaries brought the conviction that it was in the interest 
of health and monastic discipline to build more spacious 
dwellings, however, poor and simple they might be. The 
words of Bernard of Bessa in this regard are noteworthy: 
“Francis was pleased with poor dwellings, and with 
wooden ones more than with those of stone. He would 
often sojourn with a few brothers in hermitages, where 
hedges of thorns served as enclosure, and small huts as 
dwellings. In the cities, however, neither the sinfulness of 
men, nor the number of Friars would allow such 
poverty.” 7° St. Bonaventure amplifies this statement 
thus: “People of the world, who frequently travel, are in 
no need at home of a change of air; Religious, however, 
who are enclosed in narrow cells, soon become ill and in- 
disposed and unfit for mental labors if they have not 
fresh, healthful air in their houses.77 We prefer large 
houses to the small; for in these discipline can be more 
easily upheld . . . ; devotion is deeper, order more exact, 
Divine Office more beautiful, and the training of novices 
beiten 

In one point, however, Francis would countenance no 
relaxation: the brothers were to accept all buildings for 
use only, and to avoid everything that savored of pro- 
prietorship. At one time he sojourned in the vicinity of 
Bologna, and when he chanced to hear that the brothers 
had a house of their own in the city, he would not stay 
with them. He ordered, on the contrary, that the house 
be vacated at once, not excepting a brother who was lying 


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Petes 6D ERBE P.OMER DIN 113 


ill at the time. It was only after Cardinal Hugolino had 
assured him that the house was his own, that Francis al- 
lowed the brothers to return.” Another time a Friar 
spoke of a cell as being the cell of Francis, and the latter 
forthwith replied: “Because thou hast given this cell the 
name of Francis, and thus appropriated it to me, thou 
mayest seek another dweller for it: I will never again enter 
it.” 80 He would not allow the Friars to occupy even the 
smallest place, unless someone claimed it as his own. For 
it was his wish that the brothers “follow the custom of 
pilgrims, who seek shelter under strange roofs, journey 
onward in peace, and long for their own country.” ®! We 
have already seen that Francis embodied this wish in the 
rules of 1221 and 1223, and likewise in his Testament.°? 

For the very reason, that the brothers “should, after the 
manner of the poor, build for themselves poor little huts, 
and should not look upon even these as their own, but 
dwell in them as pilgrims in the houses of others,” 33 these 
dwellings were not called monasteries (monasteria, clau- 
stra), but “places” (loca), or at most only houses 
(domus). The older monasteries were units in them- 
selves, situated outside of towns and villages, after the 
manner of lordly castles or estates. They were econom- 
ically independent, and the inmates, Benedictines, Cister- 
cians, Carthusians, even the canons-regular, promised the 
stabilitas loct,®* that is, their vows were made for a definite 
monastery, and they remained bound to it for their life- 
time. The Friars, however, dedicated themselves to the 
service of God without limiting themselves to a certain 
place or house, because they wished to labor everywhere *° 
and claimed no lasting home in this world. They “pil- 
grimed for the sake of Christ,” according to the words of 
the Psalmist: “Thy justifications were the subject of my 
song, in the place of my pilgrimage.” ®° This term could 
be applied at first both figuratively and literally, as long as 
the brothers had no fixed residences, but lived perhaps in 
a cave, a deserted hermitage, a hut made of willows, or 


L14 1 BLD ASS A HESSEN REES 


some other “place.” But after their wandering mode of 
life had been restricted, the dwellings erected to shelter 
the brothers were called “houses.” They were never 
termed monasteries in the earliest Franciscan literature. 
When in 1225 the citizens of Erfurt asked Brother Jordan 
of Giano whether they should build a house for the Friars 
after the manner of a monastery, the latter, never having 
seen a monastery in the Order, replied: “I know not what 
a monastery is; build us a house near the river, that we 
may go down to the water to wash our feet.” ®7 

The establishment of houses for the brothers brought 
about another development ; namely, the necessity and the 
licitness of the use of movable goods. The various imple- 
ments necessary for manual labor had to be available,®® as 
well as the books which were indispensable to carry on the 
missionary work of the Order. Provisions had to be made 
to give the sick brothers the proper care and attention. In 
short, all those things which are needful for the mainte- 
nance of the household, however poor, had to be on hand. 
That was self-evident, and Francis allowed the use of 
these things either expressly, or tacitly ; “for the contrary,” 
remarks St. Bonaventure, “would be unreasonable.” 8° 

But, on the other hand, every vestige of luxury or ex- 
travagance in these articles was forbidden. It is significant 
that he forbade the keeping of beasts and riding on horse- 
back.9° The former was prohibited because it savored of 
proprietorship, the latter because it was proper only to 
the rich.?! 

Francis furthermore “forbade in every way that the 
brothers exceed the measure of poverty in the houses or 
churches or gardens or in all other things which they had 
in use.” ®? Regarding books, as Celano states, they were 
to seek the testimony of God, not costliness, edification 
or beauty.°2 The author of the Speculum further re- 
marks that as regards the beds and their covering, such 
abundant poverty reigned among the Friars, that they 


Tee RDA Ieee y PO a Vie? RS PN 115 


imagined themselves sleeping on soft mattresses if their 
straw was covered with a tattered sheet.* 

Many and valuable utensils were an abomination to 
Francis. He abhorred everything, as Celano states, in the 
furnishing of the table, which reminded one of the world, 
and he desired that all things which the Friars had, be- 
speak their state of pilgrimage and exile.®° Superfluous 
things he would not tolerate ; even the smallest article had 
to be removed from the house if it were not absolutely 
necessary. He was wont to say that it was very difficult 
to satisfy the needs, without yielding to self-indulgence.?® 

One time, it was the feast of Easter, the brothers had 
prepared the table in the hermitage at Greccio with greater 
care, using linens and glassware. Francis came down 
from his cell and saw the table decked out so lavishly, but 
the festive board did not put him in a happy frame of 
mind. He withdrew quietly and stealthily, and, placing 
the hat of a beggar on his head and taking a staff in his 
hand, he waited before the door until the brothers had 
begun to eat; for they usually did not wait for him if he 
did not appear on the signal. While they were sitting at 
table, he called out from the door: “For the love of God 
the Lord, grant an alms to a poor and weak pilgrim.” 
The brothers replied: “Enter, friend, for the love of 
Him, whom thou hast called upon.” Francis then entered 
and made himself known to them. Great was the conster- 
nation of the brothers when they recognized the pilgrim, 
and still greater when he asked for a small dish, sat down 
upon the floor, and set the dish in the ashes at his side. 
“Now,” he said, “I.am sitting at table like a Friar Minor.” 
And, turning to the brothers, he continued: “To us ex- 
ample of the Son of God must be more binding than to 
other Religious. I beheld the table prepared and adorned, 
and did not recognize it as the table of the poor, who beg 
alms from door to door.” 7 

The expansion of the Order throughout the world 
brought about a third development, or rather relaxation, in 


16, -ITIEESED IT Sa) las ch a Ree ete 


the practise of poverty; namely, in the clothing of the 
Friars. Francis had followed literally the command of 
the Saviour, not to possess gold, nor silver, nor money, 
nor scrip, nor two coats, nor shoes, nor a staff.”® He 
therefore allowed his disciples to wear nothing but the 
tunic with a cord, and, of course, breeches. At the most 
he allowed them, for the sake of humility as well as for 
greater warmth, to sew coarse patches on the tunic “if 
they wished, within and without.” % To allow more, 
seemed to him contrary to the Gospel. 

The Saviour had indeed spoken thus on the occasion of 
their first mission. Later on, however, when He sent them 
into more distant regions, He allowed them sandals and 
a staff.1°? When finally the time of His sacred passion 
and of persecution had come, He permitted them, con- 
trary to His first command, to take with them also a 
purse, a scrip and a cloak.1°! Francis seems to have over- 
looked these passages, and for this reason would not allow 
any relaxation in the clothing of the brothers. But cir- 
cumstances forced him, as they had forced the Saviour, 
to mitigate his earlier austerity. Such circumstances 
were physical illness and the severity of the weather, even 
while the fraternity was restricted to the sunny clime of 
Italy. After it had spread to the northern countries, the 
spare clothing in use at the beginning of the Order was 
soon found to be wholly inadequate. In fact, the first 
brothers who had been sent to Germany, Austria and 
Hungary by Francis in 1219, wore an upper and under 
garment and breeches.1°? Some time later this clothing 
was made official for the entire Order. According to the 
rule of 1221 the professed brothers received a tunic with 
a hood, and if necessary, another without a hood, with a 
cord and breeches. Since the tunic and hood formed 
the figure of the cross,1 it naturally became the privileged 
dress of those who had taken the cross of Christ upon 
themselves. The novices received for the same reason 


TOES EAE LOE. oR Osis REY. 117 


two tunics without a hood, and in place of the latter the 
so-called chaperon,!®® with breeches and the cord. 

The prohibition of two coats was accordingly omitted 
from the text of the mission, and limited to the following: 
“The brothers should carry nothing by the way, neither 
bag, nor purse, nor bread, nor money, nor a staff.” 10 
Two years later, the Ministers prevailed upon Francis 19 
to omit even these words from the rule,!°® and a second 
tunic was allowed unconditionally to all brothers. The 
wearing of shoes, which had been forbidden altogether in 
the first years,!°® and which was not yet mentioned in the 
rule of 1221, was made permissible in case of necessity.1° 

To this was added the admonition: “Let all the brothers 
be clothed with mean garments, and they may mend them 
with sackcloth and other pieces, with the blessing of 
God.” 11! Thomas of Celano remarks hereto: “Francis 
wished that under no circumstances the brothers should 
wear two tunics, although he permitted them to patch them 
with pieces of cloth. He commands them to avoid pre- 
cious material, and he reprimanded most severely in the 
presence of others, those who acted contrariwise. The 
brothers, however, who were forced by illness or other 
necessity, he allowed to wear a soft under-garment on 
their body, yet so that in outward appearance poverty and 
severity was observed.” 142 

Whatever the weakness of human nature, and condi- 
tions “of places and times and cold climates’ 413 made 
necessary, Francis freely permitted. Yet he constantly 
feared that his Order might also be contaminated by the 
oft-lamented luxury in clothing which was prevalent at 
that time among the seculars and the Religious."!* How- 
ever, he would not have the brothers sit in judgment over 
others who wore luxurious clothes: “I admonish and 
exhort them not to despise or judge men whom they see 
clothed in fine and showy garments, using dainty meats 
and drinks, but rather let each one judge and despise him- 
self.” 5 He further admonished and warned them: 


118, TED ASL SO IS IRRE SENT 


“Let all the brothers be clothed with mean garments. . . ; 
for the Lord says in the Gospel: ‘They that are in costly 
apparel, and live delicately, and they that are clothed in 
soft garments, are in the houses of kings.’ And although 
they should be called hypocrites, let them not cease to do 
good; let them not desire rich clothes in this world, that 
they may possess a garment in the kingdom of heaven.” "19 
In spite of this warning, Francis foresaw the influence of 
worldly fashions on the Order, and he declared with great 
sadness of heart: “Austerity will in time decrease in such 
measure and such laxity will prevail that the sons of the 
poor Father will not fear to wear even scarlet clothing, 
changing only the color.” 447 Thomas of Celano was 
forced to state, only a short time later,'8 that “it was 
plainer than day, and becoming plainer each day,” how 
correctly Francis had spoken. 

To prevent as much as possible by his own example such 
violations of poverty, the Poverello was content during 
his lifetime with one tunic, a cord, and the breeches. 
On this tunic he sewed a coarse sack, and he commanded 
that his burial habit be also covered with an ugly sack.!*° 

In his last hour he had himself laid upon the ground, 
and his sacklike habit taken off. His guardian divined the 
wish of the dying man, and hastened to tender him an- 
other habit, with a loin cloth, and a hood made of sack- 
cloth, of which he was in need on account of a recent 
operation performed on his eyes. Then he said to the 
dying Saint: “Know that this tunic, with the hood and 
breeches, is loaned to thee in the name of holy obedience. 
But that thou mayest know that thou hast no right of 
possession, I deprive thee of the power to give it to an- 
other.” At these words the Saint became jubilant, and his 
heart overflowed with holy joy, because he saw, that he 
had kept his troth with Lady Poverty unbroken unto the 
EN. 

That is the true ideal of poverty of St. Francis: com- 
plete renunciation of earthly things, extreme moderation in 


ETE AOE OoVm Ree: 119 


their use. The renunciation of property he demanded 
absolutely and unconditionally ; to possess anything in per- 
son or in common, was incompatible with his ideal. The 
moderation in the use of things is obviously to be gov- 
erned by the conditions under which the individual Fran- 
ciscan as well as the Order perform their proper functions; 
in consequence of the manifold, inevitable needs that 
arose, a development in this regard could not be avoided 
even during the lifetime of the Saint, and more so in 
later years. 

For the very reason that many brothers lost sight of 
these two guiding stars in the practise of Franciscan 
poverty, they provoked that unhappy dispute of the thir- 
teenth and the fourteenth century,!?? which inflicted seri- 
ous wounds on the Church and society, and particularly 
on the Order itself. The laxists among the Friars finally 
arrived at the point of allowing the possession of lands, 
thus depressing the Franciscan Ideal to the level of the 
other Orders. The rigorists, on the other hand, became 
so extreme as to condemn not only the moderate use of 
things as sanctioned by the Church, but also every reason- 
able use, attempting to model the practise of poverty on 
the basically different conditions of the first years of the 
Order, thereby rendering the apostolic and literary activity 
of the Friars impossible, destroying that sweet, mild, and 
cheerful spirit which made Francis and his Order so 
popular, and finally allowing themselves to be driven to 
stubborn resistance to the authorities of the Church. The 
history of the Franciscan Order proves that only under 
the guidance of the Church, the Franciscan Ideal of pov- 
erty can be correctly understood and followed out, for 
the immeasurable good of human society. 


CHAPTER VII 


FRANCISCAN LIVELIHOOD 


E HAVE not yet fully developed the Franciscan 

Ideal of poverty. The Poverello had solved the 

problem with the utmost simplicity: to possess 
nothing, and to use only what was necessary to live. A 
further problem, however, presented itself: in what man- 
ner were the Friars to gain their livelihood, considering 
their rigid poverty? Francis answered: by their own 
labor, and if this did not suffice, by begging alms, with the 
restriction however, that money was not to be accepted, 
either as wages, or as alms. 

That is the briefest formula to which the Franciscan 
mode of living can be reduced. To form a more correct 
estimate of this formula, and to understand how exactly 
it agreed with the Gospel Ideal of Francis, it will be neces- 
sary to give our attention to the three factors of this 
formula: money, labor, and alms, and their place in the 
Franciscan household. 

1. Money and its commercial use had in the days of 
Francis achieved an importance heretofore undreamt of. | 
It had always been the medium of exchange to a limited 
extent ; but with the growth of cities and their markets in 
the Middle Ages, the sale of agricultural products for 
money had become quite common. ‘Toward the end of 
the twelfth century, money as a medium of exchange had, 
to all practical purposes, replaced the old system of trade 
and barter. Side by side with the productivity of land and 
of labor, the productivity of money now became a dom- 
inant factor; the capitalist had become a power to be 

120 


TARA DCS Aa NO Ra ER TCG) art 


reckoned with as well as the landowner and the laborer. 
The latter also strove to become capitalists: the landowner 
by liquidizing his products in the market; the laborer by 
capitalizing his wages, which no longer took the form of 
land tenure, but mostly of money. And forthwith began 
the struggle of class against class. Enormous wealth on 
the one side; poverty of the masses on the other; and on 
the part of both, the insatiable greed for mammon—that 
soon became the dread symptom of the time. Poets and 
preachers of the thirteenth century, in particular the 
Franciscan Berthold of Regensburg, depict in somber 
colors these evil results of the new system of economics. 

Francis had been a witness from earliest youth of the 
spread of this new system; he himself had experienced 
the passionate greed of his own father. The result was an 
irresistible repugnance to everything which meant money 
or its equivalent. We still remember how restless he re- 
mained at the time of his conversion, until he had rid 
himself of the money which he carried in his purse.” The 
repudiation of money finally became the supreme law of 
his new life, after he had heard the words of the Saviour: 
“Do not possess gold, nor silver, nor money in your 
purses.” ? His contempt for all earthly things directed 
itself in particular against money. He instinctively sensed 
the demoniacal power which lies in this artificial wealth, 
and he consequently commanded his followers to flee 
money as the devil himself. The motto which he placed 
before them was: “Give to money the same value as to 
dung.” 4 

A practical exemplification of this motto presented itself 
very strikingly at the admission of the first disciples into 
the Order. Bernard of Quintavalle, who had been very 
wealthy, was distributing the proceeds from the sale of 
his property quietly to the poor.® Francis stood aside, an 
edified witness of this procedure, praising and glorifying 
God in his heart. Suddenly a secular priest, Sylvester by 
name, made his way through the throng of beggars; it was 


4 


122. KISER EFT DIESATSSTOFRESITE HEERES 


the same priest from whom Francis had purchased stones 
to repair the Church of San Damiano. Seeing Bernard 
handing out the coins so lavishly, the priest was seized 
with greed, and he exclaimed ill-humoredly: “Francis, 
thou hast not paid me sufficiently for the stones which 
thou hast bought from me.” On hearing this unjust 
charge, the lover of poverty and despiser of money reached 
down into the pockets of Bernard, drew out a handful of 
coins, and gave them to the priest. A second handful was 
also dropped into the outstretched palms, and then he 
asked: “Hast thou been paid enough now, sir priest?” 
The latter declared that he was satisfied, and went home 
delighted. His delight, however, soon changed into re- 
morse; he became ashamed of his greediness and filled 
with admiration over the contempt of money which 
Francis had shown, and soon afterward became the third 
disciple of the Poverello.? 

In similar manner many seculars were soon won over 
to the Order, inspired by the absolute contempt of earthly 
treasure displayed by Francis and his companions. At the 
time of their first apostolic journey, Brother Bernard and 
his companion were forced to seek shelter one night at 
Florence, and finally obtained permission from a kind- 
hearted peasant woman to pass the night in the bakery. 
When her husband came home and heard of what she had 
done, he became very angry; she appeased his ire, how- 
ever, by remarking that at most they could possibly steal 
some wood. After the brothers had passed the night, 
which was rather cold, without any covering, and clothed 
only “with the garment of Lady Poverty,” ® they went to 
the nearest church to pray. Soon after, their kind-hearted 
hostess also entered the church, and finding the brothers 
absorbed in deep prayer, she said to herself: “If these men 
were vagabonds and thieves, as my husband thinks, they 
would not pray so long and devoutly.” In the meantime 
a certain charitable man named Guido was distributing 
alms in the church to the poor; but when the brothers’ 


ERANGTISCTANEIVEBRTIOIODY 123 


turn had come, they refused to accept the money offered 
them. At the surprising question, why they refused alms 
although they appeared so poor and destitute, Bernard re- 
plied: “Poor we are indeed; however, poverty is not a 
burden to us as it is to the other poor, for by the grace of 
God, whose counsel we follow, we have become poor of 
our own choice.” Guido was greatly astonished at hearing 
such words, and more so when he heard that these men 
had once possessed great wealth. And from that hour he 
became a staunch friend and benefactor of the brothers.? 

This episode illustrates the natural and deep impression 
which the Franciscan scorn of money made upon their 
money-hungry contemporaries. Cardinal Jacques de 
Vitry, and the chronicler Burchard of Ursperg likewise 
shared this deep impression.1° The Three Companions on 
their part remark: ‘When the people saw that the Friars 
were full of joy in their tribulations, and devoted to con- 
stant and zealous prayer, neither accepting money nor 
carrying such with them, and showing each other great 
charity, their persecutors were deeply touched, and begged 
their forgiveness for the injuries inflicted upon them.” 4 
The Friars, on their part, took occasion from this “to love 
poverty still more, and in particular to tread money under 
foot like so much dust; yes, counting it of equal value as 
the dung of asses, as they had been told by Francis him- 
sell», 12 

One of the Friars, however, failed to show sufficient 
contempt for money, as it seemed to Francis. A stranger 
one day had entered the church of Portiuncula and placed 
a number of coins at the foot of the crucifix. The Friar 
in question unthinkingly took the money into his hand, 
and threw it on the ledge of a window. The Saint heard 
of this and ordered the brother to appear before him. 
The latter came in haste and threw himself upon his knees, 
asking pardon, and ready to accept the chastisement which 
he thought he had deserved. Francis rebuked him severely 
for having touched the money, and bade him take it down 


124: KD RE DEAN ISEOTRESHTR ER NL 


with his own mouth and deposit it on a dung-heap beyond 
the hedge of the enclosure. The other Friars were filled 
‚ with great awe at this, and they henceforth despised still 
more that which was placed on the same level with dung; 
and they were encouraged in this sentiment by almost 
daily examples of this kind.!? 

Thomas of Celano relates a very striking incident which 
greatly helped to confirm the brothers in their contempt 
for money. The man of God was one day passing by the 
city of Bari, in Apulia, accompanied by another Friar. On 
the way they found a heavy purse, all swollen as if full 
of money. His companion earnestly besought Francis to 
let him take it from the ground and distribute the 
money among the poor. He appealed to his charity and 
generosity, begging him to let the poor share in the for- 
tune. But the Saint refused, and declared that there was 
some diabolical delusion hidden in the purse, saying: “We 
may not take away strange goods, my son; to give away 
the property of another brings not Heaven’s reward, but 
punishment.” They left the purse lying in the road, and 
hastened on their way. But the Friar, deluded by a vain 
show of pity, could not be appeased. Then Francis, in his 
meekness, agreed to return to the place, not to fulfil the 
will of the brother, but to reveal to him the fraud of the 
devil. He called a boy, who happened to be sitting near 
a well at the side of the road, in order to have a third 
witness, and having first prayed to God, he commanded 
the Friar to take up the purse. The Friar did so trem- 
blingly, being struck with sudden terror as if at the pres- 
ence of the devil; but in obedience to the command of 
Francis he stretched out his hand to take the purse, when 
lo! a large serpent slipped hissing from the bag, thus re- 
vealing the diabolical deception to the Friar. The Saint, 
however, said to him: “Money, my brother, is to the 
servants of God but the devil and a venomous serpent.” 1? 

In accordance with this view, Francis embodied the 
strictest prohibition of money also in his rules. The exact 


RoR ANI Gils AN EIVEBEE LAD O DE HES 


wording in which this prohibition was originally couched, 
is unknown. The Three Companions state simply that 
Francis proscribed the acceptance of money in all his 
rules.2° But it appears evident from the severe regula- 
tions of the rules of 1221 and 1223, that actual conditions 
made the enforcement of the original prohibition more 
and more impossible, at least in its full rigor. One feels 
how strongly ideal and reality conflicted on this point, and 
how sorely the mind of the Saint was troubled in this 
regard. 

In the rule of 1221, the brothers are enjoined “in no 
wise to accept money” from the novices, “neither them- 
selves, nor through an intermediate person.” 1® They are 
allowed, however, to “receive for their labor all necessary 
things, money excepted.” 1" Then follows a lengthy chap- 
ter with the inscription: “That the Brothers must not 
receive money.” The wording of this chapter is as fol- 
lows: “The Lord commands in the Gospel: “Take heed, 
beware of all malice and avarice, and guard yourselves 
from the solicitudes of this world, and the cares of this 
life. Therefore let none of the brothers, wherever he may 
be or whithersoever he may go, carry or receive money or 
coin in any manner, or cause it to be received, either for 
clothing or for books, or as the price of any labor, or in- 
deed for any reason, except on account of the manifest 
necessity of the sick brothers. For we ought not to have 
more use and esteem for money and coin than for stones. 
And the devil seeks to blind those who desire or value it 
more than stones. Let us therefore take care, lest, after 
having left all things, we lose the kingdom of heaven for 
such a trifle. And if we should chance to find money in 
any place, let us no more regard it than the dust we tread 
under foot, for it is ‘vanity of vanities, and all is vanity.’ 
And if perchance, which God forbid, it should happen that 
any brother should collect or have money or coin, except 
only because of the aforesaid necessity of the sick, let all 
the brothers hold him for a false brother, a thief, a rob- 


120) HSE ED AGS FO TER SEIT RH Vora IS 


ber, and one having a purse, unless he should become truly 
penitent. And let the brothers in no wise receive money 
for alms or cause it to be received, or money for other 
houses or places; nor let them go with any person seeking 
money or coin for such places. But the brothers may per- 
form all other services which are not contrary to our life, 
with the blessing of God. The brothers may, however, 
for the manifest necessity of the lepers ask alms for them. 
But let them be very wary of money. But let all the 
brothers likewise take heed not to search the world for any 
filthy lucre.” 18 

From the above, it is obvious that Francis wished to 
uphold the prohibition not to accept money in its full 
force, “except in case of necessity for the sick brothers.” 
In this case the brothers are permitted to accept money 
personally; and the same permission is granted in favor 
of the lepers, with the warning, however, that the brothers 
may not collect money for themselves. 

Two years later, Francis repeats the regulation forbid- 
ding money, in the final rule, in which he says: “I strictly 
enjoin on all the brothers that in no wise they receive 
money or coins, either themselves or through an inter- 
mediate person. Nevertheless, for the necessities of the 
sick and for clothing the other brothers, let the ministers 
and custodes alone take watchful care through spiritual 
friends, according to places and times and cold climates, 
as they shall see expedient in the necessity, saving always 
that, as has been said, they shall not receive coins or 
wonley yay 

It will be noticed that in this rule the acceptance and 
the use of money is forbidden even in the case for which 
an exception was made in the first rule; that is, for the 
needs of the sick brothers. But the necessity of caring 
for the sick and of providing proper clothing for the Friars 
grew more urgent from day to day; and since the needful 
articles could be procured only by means of money, the 


PRIA NI GS GAN De DVERNSEFRO CH ano 


Ministers are directed in the rule of 1223 to meet these 
needs by having recourse to the spiritual friends. 

This provision of the rule was, however, not sufficiently 
explicit. The more zealous of the Friars, therefore, re- 
quested Pope Gregory IX, the friend of Francis and the 
co-editor of the rule, to state the exact sense of this regu- 
lation. The answer was: The Friars may deposit mone- 
tary alms with the spiritual friends, and seek relief in times 
of need through them; they may even have recourse to 
these spiritual friends in all cases of necessity, especially 
if the latter proved careless or ignorant of the needs of 
the Friars. The spiritual friends, the Pope stated, are 
not to be regarded as intermediaries of the Friars in 
this case, but of the benefactors.2? 

If we compare these regulations of 1221 with those of 
1223, it becomes obvious how Francis strove to harmonize 
the principle of the absolute prohibition of money with 
the actual conditions of life. These conditions had forced 
him in 1221 to allow the acceptance of money at least for 
the proper care of the sick. Nevertheless, the principle 
involved had thereby suffered a serious infraction; more- 
over, this exception did not solve the problem, since a 
great many other needs arose, in particular for the cloth- 
ing of the Friars, necessitating the use of money. Thus 
Francis, no doubt with the help of Cardinal Hugolino, 
who later became Pope Gregory IX, endeavored to solve 
the problem by permitting the acceptance of money through 
the spiritual friends. In this manner he was able to up- 
hold the principle at stake, and still make provision for 
all needs of the Friars. 

This solution quieted the Saint, but it did not completely 
satisfy him. In the first place, it was all too complicated 
for his simple mind. Then again, he had earnestly desired 
that the Friars should subsist without the use of money, 
even if it were procured and disbursed by others. Finally, 
and this was the weightiest consideration, the question 
presented itself to him: would it suffice at all times and 


128 THEIDEALSOFST.FRANCIS 


in all cases, that the spiritual friends accept money “for 
the needs of the sick and for the clothing of the brothers?” 
- Would not such needs arise that might make it imperative 
for the Friars to receive and disburse money themselves 
and for themselves? 

Francis rejected this thought resolutely, because he be- 
lieved himself bound fully to the Gospel. Christ had for- 
bidden the apostles to carry money with them; the only 
one of their number who did not follow this precept, be- 
came a traitor. Francis was deeply convinced that the 
precept of the Gospel applied to himself and to his Order; 
and the fate of the traitor was a source of constant terror 
to him, as we learn from the rule of 1221. But however 
great our reverence for the Seraphic Saint, we must con- 
cede the fact, that in this matter he went beyond the 
Gospel. The Saviour had indeed forbidden the apostles 
to carry money with them at the time that He sent them 
to preach in the neighboring country. But when later He 
sent them into distant and inhospitable regions where they 
would be in need of money, He allowed, yes, commanded 
them to carry a purse and coins.24 When He Himself 
was asked for the coin of tribute at Capharnaum, He pro- 
cured the necessary money in a miraculous manner, and 
directed Peter to give it to the authorities.22 Judas had 
indeed become a traitor, but through his own personal 
greed; he was, however, the lawful treasurer of the 
apostolic band,°? appointed to receive and disburse money 
in favor of the sick, the poor, and for Christ Himself and 
the apostles, whenever occasion demanded.? 

Francis himself had experienced that the use of money 
could at times not be wholly avoided. When about to re- 
turn to Italy after his first journey to Syria in 1212 or 
1213, he begged the crew of a ship to take him on board 
as a passenger. But the captain of the ship refused to 
listen to his request, since he lacked the necessary money. 
Francis and his companion thereupon secreted themselves 
on the ship, trusting in Divine Providence, and they suc- 


FORFAR NIG LS GAINS Leal MEET ION D 7 225 


ceeded in crossing to Italy as stowaways.”® It is obvious 
that this procedure cannot be approved by any means, al- 
though it can be excused by the good faith of the Friars. 
It was but a proof, if such were necessary, that the Friars 
could not altogether avoid the use of money under certain 
circumstances. 

Still more significant is an occurrence which took place 
a few months before the death of the Saint. The mis- 
sionary Friars, whom he had sent to Morocco, in that 
country received no other alms but money, and this they 
were forced to accept in order to buy food and clothing. 
They applied to the Pope for a solution of this problem 
and the latter approved their conduct, saying: “We dis- 
pense you from the prohibition of money for the above- 
mentioned regions, as long as the necessity exists, on the 
condition that you do not allow yourselves to be seduced 
by cupidity to misrepresent the actual conditions.” 7° 

This wise and prudent attitude, assumed during the 
lifetime of the Saint by Honorius III, who had approved 
the Franciscan rule, is the same attitude taken to-day by 
the Church and the Order in this matter. The dispensa- 
tion granted by the Church allowing the use of money, 
became more frequent, however, in the course of cen- 
turies, in consequence of the constantly increasing com- 
mercial use of money. To-day this commercial use has 
become so common and so general that the Order simply 
could not exist nor carry on its work properly without 
such dispensation. No one deplores this more than the 
sons of the Poverello. Every true Franciscan regards it 
as a bitter tribute to the demands of the modern economic 
system, as often as he is forced to accept money for his 
livelihood, be it in the form of alms, or as a stipend for 
his labor. 

2. Labor is the first source of Franciscan livelihood. 
Christ and the apostles had dignified labor by word and 
example, and recommended it to their followers. The 
monks and hermits of the first centuries had lived by the 


130  STSEREIT DIERAMISTOIHSSLT STORES 


labor of their hands.?” Later, when the monasteries 
already possessed property, St. Augustine testifies that in 
every well-ordered monastery the day was divided be- 
tween manual labor, reading, and prayer.?® The Patri- 
arch of Western monasticism accordingly later on also 
prescribed manual labor for certain hours of the day, 
besides the opus Dei (Divine Office) and spiritual read- 
ing.2® The monk who showed himself careless in his 
spiritual reading and meditation, or was unfit for it, was 
directed to occupy himself with manual labor exclu- 
sively.° 

From the eighth to the tenth century, the Benedictine 
Order became very active in the field of education. The 
consequence was that the monks were divided into two 
groups, the educated (litterati), who devoted themselves 
to studies, and the uneducated (illitterati, sdiote), who 
were occupied with manual labors, in addition, of course, 
to the religious exercises. Then followed a period during 
which the proverbial Benedictine spirit of industry began 
to decline, both in the field of literature as well as in 
agriculture; and with this decline the genuine Benedictine 
spirit also began to wane. In the twelfth century the 
Cistercians again resumed activities in both fields of labor, 
in consequence of a very energetic reform movement. 
They esteemed it an honor when the monks of Cluny 
ridiculed them, saying: “What new fashion of monkhood 
is this, where fields are plowed, forests are cleared, and 
dung is carried around?’*! Their principle was ex- 
pressed in the answer: “We devote ourselves to agri- 
culture, which God has created and ordained, and labor 
together, we [the monks] and our brothers [conversi] 
and the day-laborers, each according to his strength.” 32 

In the course of time, however, the Cistercians again 
returned to the division of labor in such wise that the 
lettered monks devoted themselves to the pursuit of 
knowledge, while the others shared the labors in field and 
house with the servants and lay-laborers.33 


FRANCISCANLIVELIHOOD 131 


This brief historical review of the evangelical, the 
apostolical, and the monastic conception of labor is im- 
portant to understand properly the attitude of the Pover- 
ello regarding labor. The example of Christ and of the 
apostles induced him to encourage manual labor. This 
all the more, since the ancient monks, the great majority 
of whom were lay-brothers like the first Franciscans, had 
always held labor in high esteem. And since manual labor 
had always been held an obligation for the uneducated 
monks, Francis also emphasizes the fact that he and the 
first Friars were simple (unlettered) and subject to others, 
and for this reason performed manual labor: “We were 
simple (idiote) and subject to all. And I worked with 
my hands, and I wish to work, and I wish firmly that all 
the other brothers should work at some labor which is 
compatible with honesty.” #4 

Labor, however, among the Friars occupied a position 
differing from that in the Benedictine Order. The latter 
worked for the sake of income, and on their own land; 
the Franciscans, however, not possessing property, worked 
in order to gain their livelihood, and were therefore 
forced to seek occupation abroad. In other words Fran- 
ciscan poverty made labor a necessity. According to 
medieval ideas, poverty and labor were synonymous. The 
laborer was necessarily poor, because he received nothing 
but his bare sustenance for his toil; the poor man was 
necessarily a laborer, because he could in no other way 
gain his livelihood.®° Thus Francis and his first com- 
panions, according to all contemporaneous records, ap- 
pear as poor laborers working for their daily bread. 

From the first day of his conversion, Francis devoted 
himself to the service of the lepers, a service which every- 
one shunned, and for which even the Saint at first felt 
a deep repugnance; but by the grace of God it soon be- 
came his favorite occupation.2® Later on, we find him 
acting as servant ina monastery. Wearing a coarse work- 
blouse, he performed the hard and humiliating work of 


132 VT Ea DIBA, © Pies ae i erie Ca 


a kitchen-boy, receiving as wages only a small portion of 

soup; this position he was forced to leave because the 
monks would not even replace the poor garment which 
robbers had taken from him.?” 

His next occupation was repairing churches, the first 
one being the Church of San Damiano. The Three Com- 
panions relate how he labored and toiled as a mason, 
almost exhausting the strength of his frail body in this 
unaccustomed work. But they state also that he tasted 
fully the nobility and the joy of manual labor, singing 
French romances at his work, and inviting the passing 
citizens of Assisi to lend a helping hand.3° 

This love for lowly, but honest labor Francis preserved 
until the very end, Thomas of Celano declares: “He him- 
self, the model of all perfection, worked and toiled with 
his hands, and would not allow a particle of the precious 
gift of time to pass without advantage.” 3? Whenever he 
sojourned in a solitary place, where no occasion for labor 
offered itself, he would nevertheless endeavor to occupy 
himself in some way. Thus Celano remarks casually that 
during the season of Lent Francis carved a small wooden 
dish, in order to put his free moments to some use.*® 
Even a short time before his death, he resolved to do great 
things with the grace of God, and to place his exhausted 
body once more in the strenuous service of the lepers, as 
he had done in the beginning of his conversion.*! 

The first companions of the Poverello were animated 
by the same spirit. Whenever they assembled at the poor 
Friary of Portiuncula they immediately put into practise 
| the motto: “Pray and work,” in order to ward off idleness, 

that insidious enemy of the soul.** If there was work, 
‚to be found in the neighboring country, they zealously | 
made use of the opportunity, assisting the poor peasants in | 
their toil, and accepting as reward a piece of bread.* 
During their sojourn at Rivo Torto they likewise busied 
themselves with various occupations.44 Though the hut 
in which they dwelt was hardly fit for habitation, Francis 


FRANCISCAN LIVELIHOOD 133 


nevertheless chose it because of its very poverty and its 
nearness to the lepers’ hospital, where the Friars could 
offer their services in ministering to the wants of these 
unfortunates.*° 

The greater part of the time, however, the brothers 
journeyed from place to place, as we have seen, finding 
shelter for the night as Providence directed them, and 
preaching or otherwise occupying themselves during the 
day as occasion demanded. Cardinal Jacques de Vitry 
writes of them in 1216: “By day they come into the 
cities and villages to win others by their preaching, and 
rendering other services; at night they return to a her- 
mitage or some solitary spot to meditate.’ *® Thomas of 
Celano likewise says: “They are not concerned in the 
least for their nightly shelter. Frequently they had none, 
and passed the nights in ovens, or grottoes, or caves. By 
day, those who were able, labored in the lepers’ hos- 
pitals or other places, serving everyone humbly and de- 
voutly. They would never accept work which might 
cause scandal, but always performed holy and just, honest 
and useful labors, thereby giving an example of humility 
and patience.” 4? 

Among the early Franciscan documents, the life of 
Blessed Giles is most explicit regarding the life of the 
first Friars. Wherever Giles happened to stay with his 
companions, he sought an opportunity for work. He 
hired himself as a day-laborer, yet so that several hours 
of the day were reserved for his devotions, and in par- 
ticular for the Divine Office.*? At work he always showed 
great cheerfulness and alacrity.*? 

Any occupation, however lowly, was welcome to him, 
as long as it was honest.°® At Fabriano, in the March of 
Ancona, whither he had been sent by Francis in 1214, 
Giles made containers for drinking vessels, rush baskets 
and similar articles, carrying them to the city to be sold, 
and accepting in return anything they needed in the form 
of food or clothing. So diligently did he labor that he 


14 THEIDEALS OF ST. FRANCIS 


received enough in return to clothe another Friar, poorer 
than himself.?! A year later he made a pilgrimage to 
Palestine. While waiting for the ship at Brindisi, he 
procured a water-jug, and began to peddle water about 
the town, accepting in payment whatever he and his com- 
panion were in need of for their livelihood. On the return 
journey, while detained for some days at St. Jean d’Acre, 
in Syria, he procured the necessary food by making rush 
baskets, and by carrying the dead to the cemetery. When 
such means failed him, he had recourse “to the table of the 
Lord,” begging alms from door to door.?? 

During a subsequent sojourn at Rome, Giles lived as 
usual by the labor of his hands. After attending Mass 
early in the morning, he would go to a wood about eight 
miles from the city, and having gathered a bundle of 
fuel, would carry it back and exchange it for bread 
and other things useful for the life of the body. One 
day he thus met a woman who wished to buy some 
wood. Having come to an agreement, she tried to pay 
him more than the bargain called for, having recognized 
in him a Religious. But Giles answered: “I do not wish 
to be overcome by avarice,’ and he not only refused to 
accept her offering, but returned half of the stipulated 
price. 

When the time of vintage arrived, Giles helped to 
gather grapes for the peasants, and trod them in the 
winepress. At one time he met a man on the road who 
wished to engage someone to beat down nuts from a 
walnut tree. But he could find no one willing to do 
so, because the tree was so tall and hard to climb, and 
far from Rome. Giles himself offered to help, agreeing to 
accept a share of the nuts in return for his labor. Hav- 
ing arrived at the place, he signed himself with the cross, 
bravely climbed the tree, and struck down the nuts. The 
share of these, however, which fell to his lot was so 
great that his pocket would not hold them, so taking off 
his habit, and tying the hood and arms, he made a sack 


FRANCISCANLIVELIHOOD ı3 


of it to hold the nuts. On his way back to the Friary 
he distributed them to the poor. 

When the corn was being cut, Giles went with the other 
poor into the field to glean the ears. If anyone offered 
him a sheaf, he refused to take it, saying: “I have no 
granary in which I could store it.” The ears which he 
had gathered himself, he gave to the poor. 

While staying with the monks at the monastery of 
Santi Quattro, near the Lateran, the baker sought some- 
one to clean the flour. Giles heard of this, and offered 
his services, agreeing to take seven loaves of bread for 
each three measures of meal which he cleaned. He also 
drew water for the monks from the fountain of San 
Sisto, helped in baking, and received in return several 
loaves of bread.5? Some time later, he was the guest of 
Cardinal Nicholas of Tusculum at Rieti. At the instant 
urging of the Cardinal, he agreed to dine with him, but 
made the stipulation that he be allowed to earn his own 
bread. He went to work daily, helped in gathering olives, 
and turned his hand to whatever work he happened to 
find. When he sat down to dine, he brought the bread 
which he had earned in the sweat of his brow. Once 
he was kept indoors because of stormy weather, so he 
spent his time sweeping the house and polishing rusty 
or soiled knives, accepting a few loaves of bread as pay- 
ment. At the approach of Lent he took leave of his 
host, in order to pass the holy season in solitude with 
his companions. Seized with admiration as well as sym- 
pathy, the Cardinal exclaimed: “Whither are you going? 
You wander as the birds, who have no nest.” °* 

In view of the foregoing we understand clearly the 
chapter of the rule of 1221: “Of the manner of serving 
and working.” This chapter reads: “Let the brothers 
in whatever place they may be among others to serve or 
to work, not be chamberlains, nor cellarers, nor overseers 
in the houses of those whom they serve, and let them not 
accept any employment which might cause scandal or 


136. (TEE DEADSIOHSSIR. PORTANT 5 


be injurious to the soul, but let them be inferior and 
subject to all who are in the house. And let the brothers 


~ who know how to work, labor and exercise themselves in 


that art they may understand, if it be not contrary to the 
salvation of their soul, and they can exercise it becom- 
ingly. For the prophet says: ‘For thou shalt eat the 
labor of thy hands; blessed art thou and it shall be well 
with thee’; ®5 and the Apostle: ‘If any man will not work, 
neither let him eat.’ And let every man ‘abide in the art 
or employment wherein he was called.’ °® And for their 
labor they may receive all necessary things, except money. 
And if they be in want, let them seek for alms like other 
brothers. And they may have the tools and implements 
necessary for their work. Let all brothers apply them- 
selves with diligence to good works, for it is written: “Be 
always busy in some good work, that the devil may find 
thee occupied’; *7 and again: ‘Idleness is the enemy of 
the soul.’ 58 Therefore, the servants of God ought always 
to continue in prayer or in some other good work.” °° 

Francis here speaks, in the first place, of the brothers 
who are employed as servants or day-laborers: they 
may hire themselves for work, on condition that they 
accept no position as master, nor any work which might 
cause scandal or might be injurious to the soul. In the 
next place, he speaks of skilled laborers, or artisans: 
they should remain true to their trade, even after enter- 
ing the fraternity; for that reason they may have the 
necessary tools and implements ; they may accept all things 
needful for their livelihood, money excepted; if these 
be withheld, they should go in quest of alms like the 
other brothers. The Saint finally admonishes the “other” 
brothers, who work neither as laborers nor as artisans, 
to apply themselves in some useful occupation, even if it 
be for the sole purpose of not remaining idle. 

This regulation reflects accurately the attitude and the 
practise of the first Franciscans. We have made it suf- 
ficiently clear that the first Friars earned their livelihood 


FRANCISCANLIVELIHOOD 137 


when not occupied in preaching, by being employed among 
the lay-people as servants, day-laborers or artisans ; when- 
ever they withdrew to a hermitage or some other place 
for a brief time, they sought to be actively and usefully 
engaged in some other work. Consequently, it is evident 
that the chapter on the manner of working was embodied 
in the rule before 1221; indeed, far from being an addi- 
tion to the rule of 1221, it in fact no longer corresponded 
with the conditions prevailing at that time. Two years 
later, these new conditions necessitated the incorporation 
of the following chapter in the final rule, in place of the 
one contained in the rule of 1221: 

“Let those brothers to whom the Lord has given the 
grace of working, labor faithfully and devoutly so that 
in banishing idleness, the enemy of the soul, they do 
not extinguish the spirit of holy prayer and devotion, to 
which all temporal things must be subservient. They 
may, however, receive as the reward of their labor, the 
things needful for the body for themselves and for their 
brothers, with the exception of coins or money, and that 
humbly, as befits the servants of God and the followers 
of most holy poverty.” 6° Entirely in accord with this 
chapter is the admonition of the Saint in his Testament: 
“I wish firmly that all the brothers should work at 
some labor which is compatible with honesty. Let those 
who know not [how to work] learn, not through desire 
to. receive the price of labor, but for the sake of example, 
and to repel idleness. And when the price of labor is 
not given us, let us have recourse to the table of the 
Lord, begging alms from door to door.” 61 

Since 1223, therefore, the regulations regarding the 
work among lay-people are omitted: there is no mention 
whatever made of serving, of day-labor, or of trades; 
there is simply a regulation regarding labor in general, 
and in such manner that not only manual labor, but also 
the pursuit of studies is included in the scope of the rule.® 


458. “IH ESL DERIISTOESST SER ASUS S 


A radical change has evidently taken place. How can it 
be accounted for? 
The transition from the former wandering mode of life 
to the settled living in Friaries, which took place since 
1219, was accompanied also by a change in the conditions 
of labor. Henceforth the brothers restricted their work 
almost entirely to the houses of the Order. This was the ~ 
natural result of the decree of Honorius III, prescribing 
a year of probation for the aspirants of the Order, and 
forbidding the professed brothers to wander about freely.® 
The consequence was a crisis in the labor question. The 
great majority of the Friars at that time were unlettered 
(illitterati, nescientes litteras, idiote, latcs).®* These 
were limited exclusively to manual labor; they were for- 
bidden, according to the will of the Founder, to study or 
even to learn the Psalter.°° Most of them were not fitted 
to devote themselves to a life of constant prayer. The 
work which the Friars might be called upon to do for 
people in the world, was no doubt not very plentiful; in 
fact, this kind of work no longer was of any conse- 
quence.®® The domestic tasks within the small and poor 
dwellings likewise did not suffice to keep all the Friars 
busy. Indeed, before 1240 there did not even exist a 
vegetable garden which the Friars could have cultivated ! 67 
Thus a very real danger existed that the lay-brothers 
fall a prey to idleness. It is not without reason that in 
his rules and in his Testament Francis warned so em- 
phatically against idleness.® In this regard he showed 
the utmost severity, declaring that the Friars who were 
remiss in their duty to occupy themselves with diligence, 
would soon be spit out of the mouth of God. He could 
not bear to see anyone idle without rebuking him severely. 
He would then say: “I wish that all my brothers should 
work and exercise themselves, and that those who know 
not how to work, should learn a trade, lest we become 
a burden to men, and heart and tongue be seduced through 
idleness to sinful things.” ® 


PRAN GUS @ AONE DV ELITE OID 77739 


Thomas of Celano, who has preserved for us this ex- 
hortation of the Saint, nevertheless was forced to exclaim 
some twenty years later: “Permit me, holy Father, to 
cry out to thee in heaven over those who should be thine. 
Many to whom the exercise of virtue is repugnant, wish 
to rest before ever working, and thus prove themselves 
sons of Lucifer and not of Francis. We have an abund- 
ance of weaklings instead of valiant fighters, although 
they, born to labor, ought to regard their life as a war- 
fare. It suits them not to lead an active life, and for 
the contemplative they are not fit. Having perplexed 
others with their vagaries, they work more with their 
throats than with their hands; they become hostile to 
those who punish them as superiors, and do not let them- 
selves be touched with the point of a finger. According 
to the word of Francis, I marvel more at their impu- 
dence, since at home they would be obliged to live by the 
sweat of their brow, and now they live without work, 
and thrive on the sweat of the poor. Strange prudence! 
for though they do nothing, yet they always seem occu- 
pied. They never miss the time to eat, and if hunger 
seizes them, they accuse the sun of having slept. Should 
I, esteemed Father, regard these monsters as worthy of thy 
glory? No, not even of thy habit! Thou hast ever 
taught during this short and fleeting life, to acquire a 
treasure of merits, so that we be not forced to go beg- 
ging in the world to come. They, however, have now no 
share in the heavenly fatherland, and afterward they 
shall be sent into exile. This great evil exists among 
the subjects, because the superiors act as if they should | 
not later share in the punishment of those whose lazi- 
ness they tolerate.” 7 

In these words the earliest biographer of Francis de- 
scribes the sad condition resulting from the preponderance 
of lay-brothers, who lacked the opportunity, and fre- 
quently the good will, to work. Fortunately the only 
effective remedy soon appeared: increase of the clerics and 


140. GD BLED ERASE) ORIS TE IIIRZINIT 5 


priests in proportion to the number of lay-brothers. Not 
. many years after the death of the Saint this change in 
the personnel had developed to such an extent that the 
Minister General, Elias of Cortona, was able to obtain 
a majority of votes only by employing high-handed meth- 
ods against the clerics.74 A little later, St. Bonaventure 
declared: “To manual labor are bound the healthy and 
strong brothers, who in the world gained their livelihood 
by such work, and of these the number was much larger 
in the beginning of the Order; now, however, their 
number is much smaller in comparison to the others.” 7? 
This smaller number had at that time, and to-day also, 
the worthy and meritorious vocation to perform the vari- 
ous tasks in the house and garden, to nurse the sick, to 
go in quest of alms; in a word, to make it possible for 
the clerics or educated Friars (Fratres litterats) to devote 
themselves without hindrance to their studies.” 

It was taken for granted that the educated Friars were 
not bound to perform manual labor.‘* As the Seraphic 
Doctor expounds at length, mental labor demands the 
intensive employment of all human faculties.7° Such labor 
is furthermore more precious and profitable than any 
form of manual labor.7® For this very reason, it may 
lay claim with greater justice to a decent livelihood.” 
Indeed, mental labor is in general the most perfect manner 
of gaining a livelihood, since mechanical labor can be 
properly compensated, while spiritual labors cannot be 
measured by the standard of ordinary values.’® 

This held force all the more since the labor of the edu- 
cated Friars in all its forms served the true and foremost 
purpose of the Order—the apostolate. The younger 
clerics devoted themselves to their studies with the express 
purpose of fitting themselves for their later activity as 
preachers.”” As soon as they had proved their fitness, 
they were employed, for the most part, in apostolic labors, 
and continued to do so until the end. A smaller number 
devoted their efforts to the office of teaching and writing. 


PRrANGELSEAN EIN bere OOD TAT 


The office of teaching, also, was an apostolate in the full- 
est sense of the term, since its object was the training of 
future apostles; it stood in unbroken and intimate con- 
tact with the office of preaching; it was, in fact, an unin- 
terrupted preaching of the word of God.8° The same 
was true, according to the ideal conception of the Middle 
Ages, of the office of writing. “As many books as we 
write,” remarks a contemporaneous author, “so many 
heralds of truth we send forth, and we hope to be re- 
warded by the Lord for all those who are cured of error 
by means of them, or are strengthened in the Catholic 
Faith, and no less for all who repent of their sins and 
vices, and are inflamed with a desire for the Heavenly 
Fatherland.” ®t Thus, all the spiritual labors of the 
educated Friars find their fullest and highest expression in 
the apostolate. 

For this reason these labors gave not only a valid, but 
also an evangelical title to a livelihood. At the mission 
of the apostles the Saviour had said: “The workman is 
worthy of his meat.” 8? Those who received the word 
of God from their mouth, should also in return give 
them their sustenance. That was the motto and norm 
followed by the Saviour Himself and the apostles.8* St. 
Paul likewise appeals to this law: “Have we not power to 
eat and to drink? ... Who serveth as soldier at any 
time at his own charges? Who planteth a vineyard, and 
eateth not of the fruit thereof? Who feedeth the flock, 
and eateth not of the milk thereof? . . . If we have sown 
unto you spiritual things, is it a great matter if we reap 
your carnal things? . . . So also the Lord ordained that 
they who preach the Gospel, should live by the Gospel.” 83 

Francis was so clearly conscious of this divine ordi- 
nance, that when Innocent III expressed his fears for 
the proper livelihood of the Friars, he exclaimed: “If 
God gives temporal things to sinners for love of their 
children who must be nourished, how much more will 
He grant them to evangelical men, to whom they are 


142 "RTEPEITDIEATSIOISH: RNa 


justly due.” 8° In accordance with this view, the Saint 
wished that the clerics of the Order, whose lifework 
was the apostolate, should devote themselves exclusively 
to their studies and that they should not be hampered 
in this work by any other occupation.°? 

One occupation was indeed to hold rank over all 
others—prayer. “The brothers,” thus Francis directs in 
his final rule, “to whom the Lord has given the grace 
to work, should labor faithfully and devoutly, so that 
in banishing idleness, the enemy of the soul, they do not 
extinguish the spirit of holy prayer and devotion, to 
which all temporal things must be subservient.” 8% In 
fact, prayer is the highest form of mental and corporal 
labor, since it places not only reason, will and heart in 
the service of God, but also the bodily senses and facul- 
ties. For this reason it is the most important work of 
charity rendered by the Friar to humanity, and therefore 
gives him a valid and full claim upon a livelihood. 

3. However plain it may have been that the Friars were 
to gain their livelihood by their labors, yet on the other 
hand—an apparent contradiction—they were to depend 
solely upon alms. It is obvious that the Friars living in 
the monastery were dependent on alms whether they per- 
formed mental or manual labor, since they received no 
return for their labor from the world, and since the 
monastery had no income whatever from property. 
But even the Friars who were active in the apostolate out- 
side the monastery, were totally dependent on alms. For 
though the servants of the altar and of the Gospel should 
live by the altar and the Gospel, according to St. Paul, 
nevertheless their support was always regarded in the 
Church as a work of Christian charity. In fact, even 
the Friars who were employed as servants and laborers, 
were not to demand a return for their labor as a matter 
of justice, but accept it as alms, if offered freely to them; 


if refused, they were to “beg from door to door” for 
their daily food.®® 


ERANGT SCAN Ig DW ele DONG Dt = 43 


In the Middle Ages this mode of life, dependent on 
alms, was designated as the state of mendicatto, or mendi- 
citas, and the Religious living on alms were called “mendi- 
cants.” This term, however, was not used in the stricter 
sense, nor did it have the unpleasant savor which is asso- 
ciated with the common term “begging” in our days; 
it denoted simply the state of life depending on charity, 
whether this were offered voluntarily, or were asked for 
the love of God. St. Bonaventure defines paupertas quoad 
mendicitatem, or mendicare pro Christo thus: Voco mendi- 
care eleemosynam querere seu de quotidianss eleemosynss 
vivere.’ °° In these words the Seraphic Doctor points 
out the essential and yet very unessential difference which 
exists between the secular clerics and monks on the one 
hand, and the mendicants on the other. Both live on alms 
he explains, since the possessions of churches and of 
abbeys are also alms of the poor.?! Secular clerics and 
monks, however, live on ample and large alms, offered 
and invested in the form of endowments; 9? while the 
mendicants content themselves with the daily and poor 
offerings of charity.% 

That this mode of life alone was in perfect harmony 
with the ideal poverty of the Gospel, was self-evident to 
Francis. It was based on the words of Christ: “Do not 
possess gold, nor silver, nor money in your purses, nor 
scrip on the way, nor two coats, nor shoes, nor a staff: 
for the workman is worthy of his meat.” %* According 
to this basic principle of Gospel poverty, the apostles were 
to go forth to preach the word of God, despoiled of all, 
and depending solely on the generosity of those to whom 
they announced the glad tidings. Christ Himself had 
preceded them with His sublime example, living on alms 
Himself during His public life” No doubt, therefore, 
if Francis wished to observe poverty in all its perfection 
after the example of Christ and His apostles, he would 
live like them on alms offered by charity.*® 

In fact, Francis did not hesitate a moment to make 


144. TEDEILD. ER LISIOFRSSEE PRANCIS 


this mode of life his own. Indeed, he preferred alms 

that had been begged, to those that had been offered 
_ voluntarily.°7 Only this could satisfy his desire to mortify 
himself for love of his Lady Poverty. He realized that 
self-denial could reach no higher point than when he 
begged his daily bread from door to door for the sake of 
his Beloved.2® One glance at his prime favorites, the 
poor, proved that in this manner alone he could be really 
and truly poor. The most needy among them, the beggars, 
lived on alms. Having vowed rigid poverty for the love 
of Christ, he also must needs beg alms for the love of 
Christ, and thus become poor not only in spirit, but also 
in fact and deed.2®? He was to be, and wished to be, 
poor as a beggar, asking alms like them “per amore dt 
DG meee | 

Francis made the first attempt while yet in the world, 
as soon as he had come to know by divine inspiration 
that he was to choose Lady Poverty as his bride. His 
earnest wish was then to be in some strange city, un- 
known to all, and to exchange his garments for the rags 
of a beggar and to beg alms for the love of God. He had 
occasion to do this shortly after, while on a pilgrimage 
to Rome.!®! 

After he had betrothed himself to Lady Poverty for- 
ever, his first step was to devote his strength and energy 
to the repairing of the Church of San Damiano. He 
begged the materials in Assisi, going from street to street 
and calling out: “Who giveth one stone, shall receive a 
single reward; who giveth two stones, a twofold; who 
giveth three stones, a threefold.” The priest at San 
Damiano provided his daily food, but when Francis be- 
came aware that the good priest was anxious to set healthy 
and savory food before him, he began to ponder and said 
to himself: ‘Wilt thou always find a priest who will show 
thee such charity? That is not the life of the poor which 
thou hast chosen; but go rather as a beggar from door 
to door, with a dish in thy hand, and gather therein the 


PRANCSEIEINIE EM ETIRFUOTD. aT as 


remains of food. Joyfully and willingly shalt thou live 
thus for love of Him who was born poor, lived as the 
poorest of the poor in this world, hung naked and poor 
on the cross, and was buried in the grave of a stranger.” 
And taking a dish, he went into the city, begging alms 
from door to door. But when he was about to eat the 
remains of food all mixed in the dish, he was seized with 
an almost unconquerable disgust, for he was not accus- 
tomed even to look upon such a mixture, much less to 
eat it. After a brief struggle, however, he overcame his 
disgust, and while eating the food, it seemed to him that 
he had never before tasted such dainty morsels. At the 
same time he rejoiced exceedingly in the Lord, so that 
his body also, although feeble and exhausted, was strength- 
ened to bear all painful and bitter things for the Lord. 
He therefore thanked the Lord, who had changed the 
bitter into sweetness, and’ had thus wonderfully refreshed 
him. And he requested the good priest of San Damiano 
to prepare food for him no longer, nor to have others 
prepare it for him.1° 

When his father, Peter Bernardone, beheld him in 
this state of extreme poverty, he was seized with chagrin 
and rage, and cursed him. Francis, however, paid no 
attention to these outbursts, but chose a poor old man 
to be his father, and said to him: “Come with me, and I 
shall share with thee the alms which are given me. As 
often as thou hearest my ‘father curse me, thou shalt 
sign me with the cross and bless me in his stead.” 103 

At one time, while begging in the streets of Assisi, he 
chanced to pass a house where a company of men were 
engaged in a game of chance. Fearing that perhaps some 
of his former comrades might be among the number, he 
was ashamed to appear before them as a beggar, and 
passed on. But he had hardly gone a few steps, when 
he began to rue his cowardice. He returned hastily to 
the house, and confessed humbly before the whole com- 
pany that he had been ashamed to beg in their presence. 


146. XIHKESEDEATLSORSTIE RUN TS 


Then, using the French tongue, he began to ask alms 
for the love of God.1% 

Whenever he was invited by wealthy people to a 
sumptuous table, he went about it in such manner that 
he should not offend his Lady Poverty. He would go 
and beg a few crusts of bread in other houses, and with 
these return to the table, rich in all his poverty.1°° One 
day he was the guest of Cardinal Hugolino, the later Pope 
Gregory IX. When the hour to sup approached, the 
Saint hurried away, and on his return he placed several 
pieces of bread, which he had begged in the meantime, 
on the table of the Cardinal. When the latter became 
aware of this, he was greatly embarrassed on account 
of the guests whom he had invited. Francis, however, 
beaming with joy, began to distribute the morsels of 
bread among the dignitaries and nobles, all of whom 
accepted them with great reverence; some ate them, others 
took them as keepsakes. After the repast Hugolino arose, 
called the man of God to himself, embraced him, and 
said: “My brother, why hast thou dishonored me and 
my house, which belongs to thee and the Friars, by going 
about asking for alms?” The Saint replied: “My lord, I 
have thus greatly honored thee, inasmuch as I have 
honored a Lord greater than thou. For the Lord de- 
lighteth in poverty, and more than all in that beggary 
which is embraced for love of Christ. Nor will I lay 
aside that regal dignity which Our Lord Jesus Christ 
assumed when He became poor that He might enrich 
us by His poverty.” And he added: “I feel more con- 
soled, both in body and soul, when I sit with the poor at 
their table and see before me the poor alms which they 
have gathered for the love of God, than when I am 
seated at tables that are spread with rich viands in 
abundance and manifold variety.” At these words the 
Cardinal was greatly edified, and he said to Francis: 
“My son, do whatever seems best in thy eyes, for truly 
God is with thee, and thou with Him.” 106 


PRANGISBANEEWETSRERONDID 727047 


It was his constant practise, when opportunity offered, 
to go begging on the principal feasts, saying that in holy 
poverty the prophetic words are fulfilled: “Man shall eat 
the Bread of Angels.” “Bread of Angels,” remarks the 
Seraphic Doctor, “Francis justly calls that which is asked 
for the love of God, and, by the suggestion of the angels, 
is given by the charity of those at whose doors it is begged 
by Holy Poverty.” 10 

In the beginning the Saint was wont to go alone in quest 
of alms, out of loving regard for the timidity of the 
first disciples.1%8 He was, however, unable to perform this 
arduous task for a long time, his health being of a delicate 
nature and broken with incessant toil and penance. The 
other Friars furthermore were likewise called to a life 
ef poverty, although they did not seem to realize this, 
since no one offered himself to assist in this laborious 
task.10? 

Francis therefore endeavored to encourage them pru- 
dently and kindly to take this burden upon themselves. 
“He called the shame which made them recoil from beg- 
ging, the enemy of salvation, but the feeling of shame 
while actually begging, he regarded as holy fear. He 
would praise the Friar when the blush of shame rose on 
his brow while begging, but rebuked him when he allowed 
himself to be overcome by it.” 14° 

“The brothers,” thus the Saint admonishes, ‘‘shall not 
be ashamed to go for alms, but rather remember that 
Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the living and omnipo- 
tent God, set His face [in disgrace] as a hard rock.!!! 
He was poor and a stranger, and lived on alms, He Him- 
self and the Blessed Virgin and His disciples. And when 
men treat the brothers with contempt and refuse to give 
them alms, let them give thanks for this to God, because 
for these shames they shall receive great honor before the 
tribunal of Our Lord Jesus Christ. And let them know 
that the injuries shall not be imputed to those who suffer 
them, but to those who offer them. And alms is an in- 


TA8) (DEEN Dib Ae SP Orisa ie BERMAN ES 


heritance and a right which is due to the poor, which Our 
. Lord Jesus Christ purchased for us. And the brothers 
who labor in seeking it, will have a great recompense, and 
they will procure and acquire a reward for those who 
give; for all that men leave in this world shall perish, but 
for the charity and almsdeeds they have done, they will 
receive a reward from God.” +2 

Often he would encourage the Friars to go in quest of 
alms by such words as these: “Go forth, for the Friars 
Minor have been given in these last days to the world 
that the elect by their means may obtain the praise of the 
great Judge and hear those most sweet words: ‘Inasmuch 
as you have done it to the least of these My brethren, 
you have done it unto Me.’ Mark well: the least of these 
My brethren, Fratribus Minoribus. Thus the Divine 
Prophet has expressly announced and privileged our 
Order. It is a joyful thing to beg under the name of a 
Friar Minor, seeing that it is the very name uttered by 
the mouth of the Master of evangelical truth when He 
spoke of the reward of the just.” 113 

When some of the Friars who were of noble rank 
failed to recognize their calling and their duty to beg 
alms, Francis added the following admonition with truly 
fatherly love: “My dearest brothers, the Son of God, who 
made Himself poor in this world for our sake, was of 
nobler rank than we. For love of Him we have chosen 
poverty; let us not then be ashamed to go for alms. 
It is not meet that the heirs of the kingdom of heaven 
blush for the pledge of their heavenly inheritance I 
say to you that many noble and wise men will join our 
fraternity and will deem it an honor to beg alms. You, 
however, who are the first of them, be glad and rejoice, 
and refuse not to do that, which you are to transmit to 
them for imitation.” 14 

This admonition was all the more necessary because 
of the unfriendly reception which they met at first. In 
Assisi they knocked almost everywhere in vain. In place 


BERN Gis CAN lV BIE OOD) 9 


of alms they received coarse insults; they were told that 
they had surrendered their own property only to live 
on that of others. Their own relatives persecuted them 
relentlessly. The people regarded them as idiots or insane. 
It was simply something unheard of in those days, that 
anyone should strip himself of all things for love of God, 
and beg alms from door to door.1?® 

The Friars fared no better when they appeared else- 
where for the first time. When several of them were 
on their way to Germany, they stopped near Salzburg, 
and went forth in pairs to beg something to eat, for 
their hunger was extreme. But at every door they were 
greeted with the words: “God forbid!” Finally one of 
the Friars remarked good-humoredly: “This ‘God forbid’ 
will yet kill us to-day.” Being somewhat of a wit, when 
they were greeted at the next house with ‘God forbid!’ 
he acted as if he did not understand German, sat down 
upon a bench, and cheerfully got ready for a meal. The 
peasant and his wife laughingly looked at each other, 
and finally gave the impertinent beggar bread, eggs and 
milk. When the Friar noticed that by this innocent 
stratagem he should be able to relieve the needs of the 
other Friars, he repeated it at the next twelve houses, 
until he had received sufficient supplies for the others.11® 

Francis no doubt enjoyed this innocent prank as much 
as the others when he heard of it, for that was exactly 
the spirit which he wished his brothers to possess. He 
himself was never so full of joy than when he saw them 
go in search of alms in a cheerful mood, and return as 
cheerfully. One day—it was in the beginning of the 
Order—several Friars returned from their begging near 
Assisi. Each one presented his prize to Francis, happy 
when the Saint expressed his satisfaction. They then 
teased each other gaily, one saying to the other: “I have 
captured more alms than thou.” Francis rejoiced greatly 
at this, and from that day everyone gladly asked leave to 
go and beg for alms.1!? 


150° EIEHLEITDIERTISCOHISTEIER INS 


Another time Francis was staying at St. Mary of 
Portiuncula, when one of the Friars returned from Assisi, 
carrying his beggar’s sack, and singing loudly and gaily. 
When Francis saw him, he hastened to him full of joy, 
and kissed him on the shoulder where the sack was lying. 
He then relieved him of his burden, and carried it into 
the Friars’ dwelling, exclaiming : “Blessed be my brother, 
who goes forth willingly, begs humbly, and returns 
joyfully!” 218 

Francis recognized herein the token of the genuine 
spirit of the Order. For this reason he declared that 
a Friar Minor should not tarry long before going in 
search of alms. “The nobler my son is,” he added, “the 
more willingly should he undertake this task, for by so 
doing he adds merit upon merit.’ 11% When the Friars 
were at Rivo Torto, thus relates Thomas of Celano, there 
was among their number one who counted as naught 
when begging alms, but for several when eating. As soon 
as the Saint heard of his conduct, and saw that this Friar 
was living on the labor of others, but would not work 
himself, he said to him: “Brother Fly, go thy way, since 
thou consumest the labor of others and art slothful in 
the work of the Lord. Thou art like the barren and idle 
drone, who earns nothing and does not work, but con- 
sumes the honey of the working bee.” At these words 
the carnal-minded man returned to the world, which he 
had not sincerely left. He left the Order; “for he who 
counted as naught in begging alms, was no longer a 
Friar,” remarks Celano.12° 

But in spite of his deep esteem for alms and mendi- 
cancy, Francis wished in no wise to plead the cause of 
lazy and covetous beggary. 

That covetous beggary should have no place in the 
Franciscan household, was obvious from the admonition 
of the Saviour: “Be not solicitous for to-morrow, for the 
morrow will be solicitous for itself.” 1?! Francis con- 
sidered this Gospel axiom as an essential element of true 


BERANGISECANIDEMEPEEEOIED SIST 


poverty. He time and again called the attention of the 
brothers to it.!?? So deeply imbued was he with the im- 
portance of this axiom that he forbade the brother cook 
to steep in warm water the day before,!?? the vegetables 
which were to be served the following day. Cardinal 
Jacques de Vitry (1223-1226) and the Benedictine Prior 
Roger of Wendover (1219-1235) state expressly that the 
Friars did not keep food of any kind until the following 
day, in order that poverty, which they observed in spirit, 
should also be manifest in deed and example.!?* Brother 
Leo adds that in many places the Friars never accepted 
more than was necessary for the day, especially in cities, 
where the needful alms could always be procured.!?® 

This, of course, could not be observed at all times and 
in all places. Jordan of Giano relates that the Chapter of 
the Mats had to be prolonged for two days because a large 
amount of bread and wine was still on hand for the capitu- 
lars, who numbered three thousand.!?° St. Bonaventure 
dves not hesitate to say: “If we consider the Gospel 
closely, it is clear that it forbids us to be solicitous, but not 
provident for the morrow. Solicitude denotes anxious 
care, as well as the illicit procuring and greedy storing up 
of superfluous things. For just as we should put our 
hope in the Lord in matters of salvation,!** so we should 
also leave the care for our bodily sustenance to Him, but 
so that we provide the needful things, inasfar as it can 
be done without injury to our spiritual welfare, and not 
tempt God to procure our daily food in a miraculous man- 
ner. Although, therefore, the first Friars out of zeal for 
higher perfection were wont to gather less alms than is 
done now, it was nevertheless not forbidden then, nor is 
now, to think of the future and to provide the necessary 
things for a certain time, in particular those things which 
we cannot beg when we are in need of them.” 178 

But in no case would Francis allow the Friars to accept 
more alms than was necessary. He repeatedly said to the 
Friars: “Let us not act like thieves in asking for or 


E52 SESE ET DIESAUTRSS Oy SEITE Ab ae AUN NEE 


accepting alms beyond what is necessary. I have always 
taken less than I needed, that the other poor might not 
be defrauded of their portion; to do otherwise would be 
dishonest.” 12? Even while accepting necessary alms, he 
looked more to the spiritual welfare of the donors than 
to the needs of his own body. For whether accepting 
alms or giving them, he always edified others by his 
example.130 

Francis debarred not only-by covetous beggary, but no 
less lazy beggary. This is evident if we consider his atti- 
tude toward the question of labor. The Friars were to 
obtain their livelihood by diligent and prayerful labor, if 
possible. They were to have recourse to begging only, if 
they received no return for their labor, or if no occasion 
to work offered itself. 

The life of Blessed Giles illustrates this principle most 
strikingly. He made it a point never to go for alms 
unless unable to earn his daily bread. He considered 
himself bound to this course by the express command of 
St. Francis.2?! The latter allowed begging only in case 
of necessity, according to the earlier rule: “When it 
may be necessary, let them go for alms.” 132 

That this necessity arose often enough, is obvious if we 
consider the rigid poverty of the Friars and the fact that 
they directed their efforts more to preaching than to man- 
ual labor.1?? As soon as the Order was established in 
fixed houses, we find that the Friars no longer worked 
for wages among the people, and that the occasion for 
work within the houses themselves was anything but 
abundant. For this reason Francis commends begging 
in more general terms in the’ rule of 1223: “Let the 
brothers go confidently in quest of alms, nor ought they 
be ashamed, because Lord made Himself poor for us in 
this world. This, my dearest brothers, is the height of 
the most sublime poverty, which has made you heirs and 
kings of the kingdom of heaven.” 14 

Toward the end of the Saint’s life, wage-earning on the 


FRANCISCANLIVELIHOOD ı3 


part of the Friars had practically ceased to be a factor. 
To some Friars it therefore seemed that labor as such had 
lost its importance, and thus the danger was imminent 
that the Friars might lapse into a life of lazy beggary. 
Francis warns strongly against such a life in his Testa- 
ment: “I worked with my hands and I wish to work, and 
I wish firmly that all the other brothers should work at 
some labor which is compatible with honesty. Let those 
who know not [how to work] learn, not through desire 
to receive the price of labor, but for the sake of example 
and to repel idleness. And when the price of labor is 
not given us, let us have recourse to the table of the Lord, 
begging alms from door to door.” 13° The further devel- 
opment of conditions brought it to pass that the Friars, 
however diligently they occupied themselves with manual 
or spiritual labor, were soon forced to depend upon alms 
as the only source of livelihood. 

In this connection a comparison between the Franciscan 
Order and the other mendicants who lived prior to the 
time of Franeis, will not be out of place. From the 
fourth century on, we meet frequently with monks who 
made begging a business, both from greed and from lazi- 
ness. St. Paulinus of Nola scourges them in the sar- 
castic verses: 


“Qualia vagari per mare et terras solent 
Avara mendicabula, 
Qui deierando monachos se vel naufragos, 
Nomen casumque venditant.” 136 


St. Augustine describes in scathing terms the idleness 
and greed of these monks more explicitly in the work De 
opere monachorum, in which we read: “By virtue of his 
extreme deceitfulness the enemy has scattered many hypo- 
crites under the garb of monks, hypocrites who wander 
about the provinces, sent nowhere, settled nowhere, quiet 
nowhere. Some have relics of martyrs for sale, if they 


154 STEHEN DER LS IOEISST RAN CaS 


be such; others boast of their lappets and tassels after 
the manner of the Pharisees; others state deceitfully that 
they have heard of their parents and other relatives living 
in this or that country, and that they wish to visit them, 
and all of them seek, all beg either the luxury of greedy 
poverty, or the price of a hypocritical piety.” 137 It is 
obvious that Francis and his disciples were the very con- 
trary of these notorious beggar monks. 

At the beginning of the thirteenth century the “Catholic 
Poor Men” resolved, following the example of the Wal- 
denses, to live solely on the charity of the faithful, so as 
not to be hampered in their apostolic labors by the neces- 
sity of earning their livelihood.!?® Several years later 
(1216), the Canon-Regular Dominic also chose this mode 
of life. But he, as well as his Order, was actuated like- 
wise in choosing mendicity by the desire to enjoy full free- 
dom in the pursuit of study and in preaching. They be- 
came mendicant Friars not from love of poverty, but for 
the sake of the apostolate.!?? 

Francis had also been actuated by the same motive in 
embracing a life of absolute poverty. We have adduced 
sufficient proof for this, and in 1219 Honorius III de- 
clared it expressly: “Francis and his companions have 
renounced all vain things of this world in order to scatter 
everywhere the seed of the word cf God after the manner 
of the apostles.” 1*#° The apostolate, however, was neither 
the sole, nor the principal purpose which determined the 
Poverello to choose a life based on begging. His deter- 
mination sprang, in the first place, from his love of pov- 
erty, and from the desire to follow the Saviour in the 
most perfect manner. This is obvious from what has 
been said on this subject in the foregoing pages, and is 
emphasized again by Honorius III: “The Friars Minor 
imitate Christ in leaving all things, becoming poor for 
love of Him, and living in perpetual poverty.’ 14! St. 
Bonaventure !#2 treats at length of this twofold purpose of 
Franciscan mendication. The Friars, he explains, live 


FRANCISCANLIVELIHOOD ı5 


on alms to preach Christ as well as to imitate Christ. “To 
preach Christ, pro Christo evangelizando”’: they place 
their word, their service, their strength, their entire selves 
in the service of the Gospel, and are justified thereby 
in expecting material alms of those to whom they give 
spiritual alms. “To imitate Christ, pro Christo imitando” : 
whoever becomes a beggar for love of Christ, imitates 
the Saviour by self-contempt, humbling himself most 
deeply ; by charity toward his neighbor, whom he edifies 
and moves to compassion; by loyalty to God, whom he 
serves with unshackled devotion, unburdened by earthly 
cares.148 By giving the world this threefold good exam- 
ple, the Friars obtain a right to alms in greater measure.!*? 
St. Francis therefore said repeatedly: “There exists an 
agreement between the world and the Friars: these owe 
the world a good example; the world owes them a liveli- 
hood. If the Friars turn away from poverty, the world 
will turn away from them; they shall seek and not find. 
If they, however, remain true to my Lady Poverty, the 
world will sustain them, for they are given for the salva- 
tion of the world.” 1*° 

The mainspring, however, of the Poverello’s assurance 
for the livelihood of the Friars was his supreme and 
unshakable trust in Divine Providence. This trust at the 
same time is the solution of the problem of Franciscan 
economics. The living faith of the Poverello in Divine 
Providence—that, and that only, is the solution of the 
problem. 

The Saviour Himself had placed His whole life in the 
providence of His heavenly Father, and in all earthly 
things He beheld forever new revelations of divine bounty. 
It was this way of childlike trust which He pointed out 
to His disciples, and time and again He preached to them 
the Gospel of Providence in the most impressive manner : 
“Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not 
one of them is forgotten before God? Fear not, there- 
fore: you are of more value than many sparrows. Yea, 


TRO, BIETET Dr Prot HRS ea pees 


the very hairs of your head are numbered. . . . 14° There- 
fore I say to you: be not solicitous for your life, what 
you shall eat; nor for your body what you shall put on. 
The life is more than the meat, and the body is more than 
the raiment. Consider the ravens, for they sow not, 
neither do they reap, neither have they storehouse or 
barn, and God feedeth them. How much are you more 
valuable than they? Consider the lilies how they grow: 
they labor not, neither do they spin. But I say to you, not 
even Solomon in all his glory was clothed like one of 
these. Now, if God clothe in this manner the grass that 
is to-day in the field, and to-morrow is cast in the oven, 
how much more you, O ye of little faith?” 147 

Francis accepted and understood this Gospel of trust 
in God with the same childlike and literal faith as the 
Gospel of poverty. His absolute poverty, the poverty of 
a beggar, was in the last instance but the echo of his living 
faith in Divine Providence.. To him God was in reality 
the Father of all, who embraces all His creatures in loving 
care, and provides for all their needs. And the more 
completely the creature strips itself of all earthly things 
for love of God, the more lovingly God provides for it. 
God is therefore the Father and Provider of the evan- 
gelical poor. This certainly came to Francis at the mo- 
ment when he renounced the world; he was completely 
conquered by it when he returned all, even his clothes, 
to his father, Peter Bernardone, and exclaimed: “Hence- 
forth I shall say: Our Father who are in heaven!” 148 
This carefree trust in the fatherly love of God accom- 
panied the Saint from this moment to the end of his 
life. It was the only treasure which he entrusted to his 
disciples on their way through life. 

Thomas of Celano relates how Francis equipped his 
first disciples for their missionary journeys. After in- 
structing them on the kingdom of God, the contempt of 
the world, the denial of self-will, and the subjugation 
of the body, he said to them: “Go, most beloved brothers, 


BRAN Gls GAN EV EISHTLO. OD 57 


two by two into all quarters of the globe, and preach to 
all men peace and penance unto the remission of sins. 
Be patient in tribulations and firmly convinced that God 
will keep His promise.” He then embraced them, and 
spoke meekly and humbly to each: “Cast thy care upon 
the Lord and He will nourish thee.” 149 While they 
went forth in all directions, he himself with Brother 
Masseo set out for France. The Fioretts tells us of his 
deep faith in Divine Providence, in one of those chapters 
redolent with that delightful sweetness and charm which 
characterize the “Little Flowers,” and stamp them with 
the seal of truth: 

Coming one day to a certain town and being very 
hungry, they went, according to the rule, to beg bread for 
the love of God; St. Francis going down one street and 
Brother Masseo down another. But, because Francis was 
a man of mean appearance and small of stature and 
accounted a vile beggar by those who knew him not, he 
received nothing but a few mouthfuls and crumbs of dry 
bread; whilst Brother Masseo, being tall and comely in 
person, had good pieces and large and plentiful given 
to him, and entire loaves. When they had begged enough, 
they went together to a place outside the town, where 
there was a beautiful fountain that they might eat; and 
beside which was also a broad and convenient stone, on 
which each placed all the alms which he had begged. And 
St. Francis, seeing that the pieces of bread which Brother 
Masseo had, were larger and better than his own, had 
great joy and spoke thus: “O Brother Masseo, we are 
not worthy of such great treasure.” And as he repeated 
these words several times, Brother Masseo answered him: 
“Father, how can this be called treasure, when we are in 
such poverty, and lack the things of which we have need; 
we, who have neither cloth, nor knives, nor plates, nor 
platter, nor house, nor table, nor manservant nor maid- 
servant?’ Then said St. Francis: “And this is what I 
call a great treasure, that there is nothing here provided 


158 SCHETDEATBSORSTIRRANGTES 


by human industry, but everything is provided by Divine 
_ Providence, as we may see manifestly in this bread which 
we have begged, in this stone which serves so beautifully 
for our table, and in this so clear fountain; and therefore 
I desire that we should pray to God that He would cause 
holy poverty, which is a thing so noble that God Himself 
was made subject to it, to be loved by us with our whole 
heart.” And when he had said these words and they 
had made their prayer and-partaken for bodily refresh- 
ment of the pieces of bread and drunk of the water, they 
arose and went on their way to France.!°® 

This episode affords us a deep insight into the secret 
of the Poverello’s faith and trust in Divine Providence, 
and gives us also the key to his solution of the problem 
of Franciscan livelihood. God is in a direct and infallible 
manner his Father and Steward. The creatures, who con- 
sciously or unconsciously are his benefactors, are to the 
Saint merely the channels which receive and in turn dis- 
pense their bounty from the divine source of goodness. 
They accordingly can never fail, even as the divine source 
can never fail. The more directly they are in touch with 
this source, and the more untouched they are by mortal 
hands, by human calculation and artificial providence, the 
more forcibly the Providence of the Creator reveals itself 
in them. Thus every creature becomes to St. Francis 
Brother and Sister and Benefactor in God; the whole 
universe becomes the instrument of Divine Providence 
unto him. And the less he possesses himself, the more 
securely he finds himself sheltered in God and in His 
world. Most high poverty is, therefore, his precious 
treasure, which he desires to love and keep with every 
fiber of his heart. 

With these sentiments firmly rooted in his heart, Francis 
appears before Innocent III with his eleven companions, 
to seek the approbation of his rule, which had been written 
in the meantime. The Pope, one of the greatest executives 
who ever lived, became hesitant and anxious when he real- 


BRANGPSESHN EINER EHE OD 759 


ized that Francis was determined to base his undertaking 
entirely and solely on Divine Providence: He bade the 
Saint to pray for further inspiration from above. In 
obedience to the Pope’s command, Francis prayed long 
and fervently, and the Lord revealed to him the following 
allegory: “In a desert place there lived a poor but beauti- 
ful lady. A king, seized with admiration for her beauty, 
desired her for his wife, that she might bear him beautiful 
children. After the marriage had been entered upon, 
many sons were born therefrom. When these had grown 
up, the mother said to them: ‘My sons, be not ashamed, 
for you are children of the king. Go, therefore, to his 
court ; he will provide you with all needful things.’ When 
they stood before the king, he marveled at their beauty, 
and seeing that they resembled him greatly, he asked whose 
sons they were. They answered, the sons of a poor lady 
in the desert. The king thereupon embraced them with 
great joy and exclaimed; ‘Fear not, you are my children. 
If strangers eat at my table, how much more you, to whom 
the inheritance is justly due!’ He then commanded the 
poor lady to send all her children to the court, there to 
be reared by the king.” 1°? 

After completing his prayer, Francis again appeared 
before the “dear Lord Pope,” related the allegory which 
God had revealed to him, and added: “Lord Pope, I am 
the poor lady whom God has chosen and enriched with 
many children. The King of kings has assured me that 
He Himself wishes nourish all children which are be- 
gotten through me. For if He nourishes strangers, surely 
he must also nourish His own children. Since God gives 
temporal things to sinners that they may nourish their 
children, He must all the more provide evangelical men 
with those things which are justly their due.” Innocent 
hesitated no longer, and not only approved their rule and 
manner of life, but gave his fatherly blessing to them and 
their undertaking.!?? | 

Was it foolhardiness? Human shortsightedness may 


160. WISEHIEITDIEANESSOFRFSEEIRIPFN EIS 


call it thus, but history does not. Cardinal Jacques de 
_ Vitry, a conteniporary, is puzzled which to admire more: 
the trusting faith of the first Friars, or the bounty of 
Divine Providence in their behalf. “As many as seek to 
join the Order,” he writes, “the Friars receive them all 
without hesitation. They do so with all the more confi- 
dence since they surrender themselves completely to the 
generosity and providence of God, and are firmly con- 
vinced that God will preserve them. They give to those 
who come to them only a habit and a cord, and leave all 
else to heavenly Providence. In fact, the Lord gives to 
these His servants a hundredfold even in this world; and 
wherever they go, His eyes are constantly upon them, so 
that the word of Scripture is fulfilled in them: ‘God 
loveth the stranger and giveth him food and raiment.’ 193 
Those count themselves blessed, whose hospitality and 
alms the servants of God do not refuse.” * The Three 
Companions, likewise eye-witnesses, assert the same: 
“The Lord at all times prepared shelter for them, and 
had all needful things offered them.” 15° In view of the 
countless proofs of divine bounty manifested during the 
life of the Poverello, Thomas of Celano does not hesitate 
to declare: “Not only all creation served this man of God 
at every nod; the providence of the Creator was at his 
disposal according to his own pleasure. The fatherly 
love of God anticipated his wishes and fulfilled them 
before they were uttered. Need and supply, desire and 
fulfilment were always one.” 156 

Whenever Providence failed to supply their wants by 
the ordinary means, it failed not to do so in an extraor- 
dinary, yes, marvelous manner. 

At the time when the Saint and his band returned from 
Rome, they arrived one day in a deserted region where 
no food could be obtained. Suddenly a man stood before 
them, gave them a loaf of bread, and disappeared. The 
“Poor of God” beheld in this food the confirmation and 
reward for their trust in Providence, and they encouraged 


BRANGISBANTGELEVEE TEICHE 761 


each other to expect all things from the bounteous mercy 
of God.!?7 

Several years later (1212-1213), Francis embarked for 
Syria, but was cast upon the Slavonian coast, and after 
a long, hazardous voyage he landed again at Ancona. The 
sailors had refused to take Francis on board, seeing his 
poor and destitute condition. But God provided not only 
for the sustenance of the Saint, but through him also for 
the entire crew on their stormy voyage. Thus it hap- 
pened, says Celano, that those who were unwilling to give 
passage to the man of God, were saved by him, and 
moved to praise and bless the providence of Him who 
never forsakes his own.?°8 

Shortly after (circa 1213-1215), Francis set out for 
Morocco with the desire to obtain the palm of martyrdom, 
but fell seriously ill in Spain. As he dragged himself 
along, weary and exhausted, in company with Brother 
Bernard, he expressed a desire for some meat. And lo! 
a rider came along and offered the sick man a savory 
dish prepared of fowl, saying to him: “Servant of God, 
eat with relish what Divine Providence herewith sends 
nee? 

Again at a later time he was lying ill in the Bishop’s 
palace at Rieti. Since the habit which he wore had 
become thin and threadbare, he asked his Guardian to 
procure him some cloth for a new habit. While the latter 
was pondering how he should be able to fulfil the wish 
of his Father, a knock was heard at the door, and a man 
stood there with a roll of cloth, saying: “Brother, accept 
this cloth for six habits for love of God; keep one for 
thyself, and distribute the others at thy pleasure.” 160 

Another time, thus relates St. Bonaventure, when the 
man of God wished to go to a certain desert place, that he 
might give himself the more freely to contemplation, being 
very weak, he rode upon an ass belonging to a poor man. 
It being a hot summer’s day, the poor man, as he followed 
the servant of Christ, became weary with the long way and 


1062. WISE EM DIERAUNSEOTBESKTR AO ZEN en 


the steep ascent, and, beginning to faint with fatigue and 
burning with thirst, he called after the Saint: “Behold,” 
he said, “I shall die of thirst, unless I can find a little 
water at once to refresh me.” Then without delay the 
man of God got off the ass, and, kneeling down with his 
hands stretched out to heaven, he ceased not to pray until 
he knew that he was heard. Having finished his prayer, 
he said to the man: “Hasten to yonder rock, and there 
shalt thou find living water, which Christ the Merciful 
hath even now brought forth therefrom that thou mayest 
drink.” O marvelous goodness of God, who thus easily 
inclines to the prayer of His servants! The thirsty man 
drank of the water drawn from the hard rock by the 
power of prayer. Never was flowing water in that place 
before; neither, however diligently sought for, could it 
ever be found there afterward.!‘! 

Toward the end of his life, when the Saint was suf- 
fering with a serious malady of the eyes, a certain physi- 
cian was accustomed to visit him frequently in the hermit- 
age and to attend him. One day Francis invited this 
physician to dine with the Friars, wishing to show his 
gratitude in this manner, and to give him pleasure. But 
the Father Guardian remonstrated: “Father, we are 
ashamed to invite the physician; at present we are so 
very poor.” The Saint replied: “O ye of little faith, 
must I repeat it again?’ The physician himself wished 
to appease them, saying: ‘Dearest brothers, I shall reckon 
it the greatest honor to share your poverty with you.” 
The Friars then hurried to collect whatever they could 
find in kitchen and cellar; namely, some bread and wine 
and vegetables. But the table of the Lord was more 
bountiful than the table of the poor; a lady appeared at 
the door of the Friary and handed the brothers a basket 
filled with fine bread, fishes and a crab patty, and covering 
all was some honey and grapes. The joy of the Friars 
was great, but still greater was the admiration of the 


BRAN GLS CAN ERV BERHOOD 2163 


physician for the sanctity of Francis and the bounty of 
Divine Providence.!® 

“At the time when the Saint was sojourning at Nocera,” 
thus relates Thomas of Celano, “and the people of Assisi 
heard that he was near death, they sent messengers from 
the city to bring him back, fearing that they might be 
deprived of the possession of his sacred body. While 
bringing him back on a horse, they came to a poor little 
town named Sarziano. Being the hour of dinner, they 
were all hungry and went to buy some food, but finding 
nothing, they returned empty-handed. The messengers 
then said to Francis: ‘Thou must give us of thy alms; 
for here there is nothing to buy.’ ‘Then,’ said the holy 
man, ‘you have found nothing because you trust more in 
your flies than in the Lord [by flies he was wont to signify 
money] ; return, therefore, to the houses which you have 
already visited, and humbly ask for alms, offering the love 
of God instead of money. Be not ashamed, for, after sin 
committed, God, the great Almsgiver, grants to all, worthy 
and unworthy, all things needful as alms with a lavish 
hand.’ Then laying aside their false shame, they went 
and asked for alms, and this time they purchased more 
for the love of God than for money. The people vied with 
one another in giving food, and thus it befell that the 
hunger which by money could not be relieved, was relieved 
by the bounty of Lady Poverty.” 163 

St. Bonaventure derives the following admonition from 
this marvelous providence of God in behalf of Francis 
and his Friars: “Therefore, let the poor man of Christ 
lay aside all distrust. For if the poverty of Francis was 
so abundantly sufficient to supply by its wonderful power 
the wants of all those who in any way assisted him, so 
that they lacked neither food nor drink nor house when 
all supply of money and all natural power and faculties 
failed them, much more shall they deserve to receive those 
things which the order of Divine Providence is accus- 


A164, MD ROT DAS TSS) Orb Sey TIERES 


tomed to grant indifferently to all men. If, I say, the 
~ dry rock at the voice of the poor gave forth abundant 
water for the need of that poor thirsty man, never will 
Our Lord deny anything to those who have left ali things 
for the Author of all things.” 1% 

“In no place and at no time do we read,” the Seraphic 
Doctor writes elsewhere, “that one who strove to serve 
God in poverty, starved from lack of food. . . . For since 
all earthly things are the property of God, he who belongs 
to God shall lack nothing, if he but fail not God, nor 
become disloyal to Him... . It is therefore no hazard- 
ous venture, but a safe refuge, to leave all things in order 
to devote oneself entirely to God.” 163 

Since these words were written, nearly seven centuries 
of Franciscan history have passed, and hundreds of thou- 
sands of Friars have lived from the “Table of the Lord,” 
and all attest that faith and trust in Providence has never 
failed. All attest that “the fatherly eye of God never 
overlooks His own, but feeds them with all the greater 
love and care, the poorer and more destitute they are; 
yes, that the table of the poor of God is spread more lav- 
ishly than the table of princes, just so much more lavishly 
as the generosity of God surpasses that of men.” 166 

The poor of Christ content themselves with simple food 
and raiment, still they are infinitely more happy than 
the rich man in purple and linens at his sumptuous ban- 
quet. The Fioretti episode of Francis and Brother Masseo 
repeats itself time and again. Franciscan poverty is still, 
according to the words of the poet, exceedingly rich in its 
neediness, because all things needful are provided by God 
Himself : 


“Son colei, che tu dimande 

Con le povere vivande. 

Ogni cosa mi par grande, 
Che per Dio mi sia donato.” 167 


PRN Cas CA Nell Vie ee Oa 105 


That is the blessedness of Franciscan poverty. These 
two terms are synonymous: to renounce all earthly things 
for love of God, and to be provided with all needful things 
by God; to despise every shred of earthly substance which 
manacles the heart of man to this earth, and to eat at the 
table of God, to live on His bounty; to seek nothing from 
the world, and to hope all things from God. That is the 
source of Franciscan joviality, the ever smiling Franciscan 
cheerfulness of the ever happy family of the Poverello 
of Assisi.168 


CHAPTER VIII 


FRANCISCAN HUMILITY 


HE broad and deep conception of poverty, and its 
Il realization as Francis achieved it, did 

not include merely the renunciation of material 
things. To be truly poor according to the example of the 
Saviour, the Poverello wished also to embrace humility 
as the companion of poverty, the poverty in spirit, the 
love of being small. It is obvious that this love of little- 
ness is included in true and genuine poverty. It is both 
the soul and foundation as well as the necessary fruit of 
true poverty. To be poor and to be little are well-nigh 
synonymous. It has therefore been rightly said: “Humili- 
tas—that is perfect poverty.” ! 

In speaking of poverty, Francis time and again men- 
tions humility in the same breath. He greets both as 
sisters: “O Lady Holy Poverty,” he exclaims, “the Lord 
preserve thee with thy sister, holy humility! .. . Holy 
poverty puts to shame avarice, greed and the cares of 
the world. Holy humility puts to shame pride and all 
men of this world, and all things which are of this 
world.’”’? He considers the union of both as the founda- 
tion of his Order.” He commends both most ardently to 
his brothers: “Let all the brothers follow the humility and 
poverty of Our Lord Jesus Christ. ... Let all the 
brothers serve the Lord in poverty and humility as pil- 
grims and strangers in this world. . . . Let them observe 
the poverty and humility and the Holy Gospel of Our 
Lord Jesus Christ.”* In his instructions he constantly 

166 


PRANC ES GA NoE Ui MeRE EDY 167 


reverted to the virtues of poverty and humility, and 
charged his brothers to hold fast to them without fail.® 

Several fragments of his instructions on humility have 
come down to us. We cannot resist the temptation to 
repeat them here. In substance as well as in form they 
remind us strongly of the inspired wisdom of the /mitation 
of Christ. 

In order to warn his brothers against vain self-com- 
placency, he shows that no man has reason to glory in 
anything: “Consider, O man, how great is the excellence 
in which the Lord has placed you, because He has created 
and formed you to the image of His beloved Son accord- 
ing to the body, and to His own likeness according to the 
spirit. And all the creatures that are under heaven serve 
and know and obey their Creator in their own way better 
than you. And even the demons did not crucify Him, but 
you together with them crucified Him and still crucify 
Him by taking delight in vices and sins. Wherefore then 
can you glory? For if you were so clever and wise that 
you possessed all knowledge, and if you knew how to 
interpret every form of language and to investigate 
heavenly things minutely, you could not glory in all this, 
because one demon has known more of heavenly things 
and still knows more of heavenly things than all men, 
although there may be some man who has received from 
the Lord a special knowledge of sovereign wisdom. In 
like manner, if you were handsomer and richer than all 
others, and even if you could work wonders and put the 
demons to flight, all these things are hurtful to you and 
in no wise belong to you, and in them you cannot glory; 
that, however, in which we may glory is in our infirmities, 
and in the bearing daily the holy cross of Our Lord 
Jesus Christ.” ® 

The brothers were to glory least of all in their virtues 
and graces. Repeatedly he would say: “Because of all 
things which a sinner may do, no one has reason to flatter 
himself with vain praise. The sinner can fast, pray, weep, 


168: oT EDBRED-BAIESIOPISEEI EREUNGE LS 


chastise his own flesh; but one thing he cannot do: remain 
true to his Lord. Let us therefore glory in this, that 
we give God the honor, if we, loyal in His service, ascribe 
to Him all things which He grants us. The greatest 
enemy of man is his flesh. It knows not how to recall 
anything by which it may be moved to sorrow; it knows 
not how to foresee anything in order to walk in fear. It 
knows but one thing: to abuse the present moment. But 
far worse is this, that it arrogates to itself the gifts 
which have been granted to the soul, and uses them for 
its own praise. It demands praise for virtue and grace, 
applause for watching and praying. It leaves nothing 
to the soul; indeed, it demands its tribute even from 
tears.” 7 

If, therefore, the brothers possess virtues or graces,} 
they should manifest them in deeds, and not in words: 
“Blessed is that servant who does not speak through hope 
of reward and who does not manifest everything and is 
not hasty to speak, but who wisely foresees what he 
ought to say and answer. Woe to that Religious who, not‘ 
concealing in his heart the good things which the Lord | 
has disclosed to him, and who, not manifesting them to 
others by his work, seeks rather through hope of reward © 
to make them known to men by words: for now he re- 
ceives his recompense, and his hearers bear away little 
fruit.” ® 

Francis accordingly admonishes all Friars in touching 
words to love humility: “I beseech in the charity, which 
is God, all my brothers, preachers, prayers, or laborers, 
both clerics and laics, that they study to humble them- 
selves in all things and that they glory not, nor rejoice, 
nor inwardly exalt themselves on account of good words 
and works, nor indeed for any good which God may 
sometimes say or do and operate in them or by them, 
according to what the Lord says: ‘But yet rejoice not in 
this, that the spirits are subject unto you’? And let 
us know for certain that nothing belongs to us but viceg 


PRAINC TS CAN PEUU MT Brey 169 


and sins. And we ought rather to rejoice when we fall 
into divers temptations, and when we bear some afflictions 
or sorrows of soul or body in this world for the sake 
of eternal life. Let us then all, brothers, avoid all pride 
and vain-glory.... And let us refer all good to the 
Lord God most high and supreme; let us acknowledge 
that all good belongs to Him, and let us give thanks for 
all to Him from whom all good proceeds. And may He, 
the Most High and Supreme, only true God, have, and 
may there be rendered to Him and may He receive, all 
honors and reverences, all praises and benedictions, all 
thanks and all glory, to whom all good belongs, who alone 
istoood: 22° 

He reminds especially those Friars who, because of their 
calling, are exposed more than others to the danger of 
vain-glory, of their duty to be humble: the preachers, 
the theologians, and the superiors. 

The preachers were constantly admonished by him to 
give glory to God alone in their success, and to remain 
indifferent to the praise and favor of men: “Thus,” he 
would say, “may the servant of God know if he has the 
spirit of God: if when the Lord works some good through 
him, his body—since it is ever at variance with all that 
is good—is not therefore puffed up; but if he rather be- 
comes viler in his own sight and if he esteems himself 
less than other men. . . . Blessed is that servant who is 
not more puffed up because of the good the Lord says and 
works through him than because of that which He says 
and works through others. A man sins who wishes to 
receive more from his neighbor than he is himself willing 
to give to the Lord God.” 4 

As highly as Francis esteemed the office of preaching, 
so severely did he rebuke those preachers who sold their 
merit for the silver of earthly glory. In reprimanding 
those who had become puffed up because of their success 
as preachers, he would say: “Why do you glory because 
of those who have been converted, since they have been in 


170 | eH ESTID BAAS tO as FFIR SEN le 


fact converted by the prayers of my simple brothers ?” 
The prophetic word of the barren one who bears many 
children, while the fruiftul one does not,!? he explained 
in this wise: “The barren one is my poor little brother, 
who is not called to bring forth sons in the Church. He 
will bear many on the day of judgment, because the Judge 
will reckon to his account the souls which he now con- 
verts by his secret prayers. The woman who has many 
sons, will be found barren; that is, the preacher, who 
rejoices over many converted, as if he had begotten them 
of his own power, will then know that he has had no 
part in their conversion.” Those also were hateful to the 
Saint, who sought to shine more as orators than as preach- 
ers, since they indulged more in verbosity, instead of 
speaking from heartfelt emotion.!3 

He admonished the learned Friars to renounce in like 
manner for the love of God the fame of erudition. “If 
a great scholar enters the Order,” he remarked, “he must, 
as it were, renounce learning itself in order to throw 
himself naked into the arms of the Crucified, stripped 
even of this spiritual possession. For, learning renders 
many learned men indocile and stubborn in the humble 
practises of religious life. Therefore I desire that such 
a learned man should say first of all: ‘Behold, brother, I 
have lived a long time in the world and have not truly 
known my God. I beg thee therefore for a cell removed 
from the clamor of the world, where I can meditate on my 
past life, shut out all distractions and order the affairs of 
my soul.’ What think you,” Francis added, “will become 
of a learned man who thus begins his religious life? Cer- 
tainly he will then become like a lion freed of his chains, 
and able to do all things. . . . If he be appointed to teach, 
his mouth will overflow with the fulness of his spirit.” 14 

According to the mind of the Saint, even the greatest 
erudition was to be paired with a humble disposition.!? 
He considered just this as the direct object of learning and 
its bed-rock foundation: to know oneself, and thus in- 


KRANGESGANTLUM EL TIFT 171 


crease in humility.!* That alone gave him security that 
the efforts of the Friars in acquiring knowledge would 
be born of, and permeated by, the spirit of God, which is 
a spirit of humility and holy simplicity.2” Whoever rears 
the structure of science on this foundation, will thus 
prosper immeasurably in the science of God itself.!3 

Still more frequently and ardently he admonished the 
superiors to humility. He was wont to say: “It is good 
and pleasing in the eyes of God to have care of others, 
but only those should have the care of souls, who seek 
not themselves in anything, but are mindful in all things 
of God’s will alone. Only those should hold the office 
of superiors who prefer nothing to the salvation of their 
souls, and do not seek the favor of their subjects but their 
welfare; who desire not the praise of men, but honor 
before God; who fear, more than seek, the office of 
superior; who, when they are chosen as superiors, are 
humbled instead of puffed up, and who, when they are 
deposed, do not feel themselves humbled, but exalted.” 
He reminded the Frairs repeatedly that in this time of 
increasing wickedness and sin, it was a dangerous thing 
to rule, but a profitable thing to be ruled.’ 

“Let those,” remarks the Saint, “who are set above 
others, glory in this superiority only as much as if they 
had been deputed to wash the feet of the brothers; and if 
they are more perturbed by the loss of their superiorship 
than they would be by losing the office of washing feet, 
so much the more do they lay up treasures to the peril of 
their own soul. . . . Woe to that Religious who is ele- 
vated in dignity by others, and who of his own will is 
not ready to descend. And blessed is that servant who is 
raised in dignity not by his own will, and who always de- 
sires to be beneath the feet of others. . . . Blessed is 
that superior who shall be found as humble among his 
subjects as if he were among his masters!” ?° 

In accordance with this idea of humility, Francis laid 
down the following norm for the superiors in ruling their 


172%: BRHEIDEARSOESTIRIAN EIS 


brothers: “Let the ministers [servants] receive their 
brothers charitably and kindly and show so great famili- 
arity toward them that they may speak and act with them 
as masters with their servants, for thus it ought to be, 
since the ministers are the servants of all the brothers.” ?1 

This leads us to the true source whence Franciscan 
humility derives its sublimity and peculiarity: the Gospel. 
In designating the superiors as ministers or servants, 
Francis appeals directly to the words of the Saviour,” 
who says of Himself: “The Son of Man is not come to 
be ministered unto, but to minister,’ and who commands 
His apostles: ‘“‘Whosoever will be the greater among you, 
let him be. your minister. ... He that is the greater 
among you, let him become as the younger, and he that 
is the leader as he that serveth.” °° Following this injunc- 
tion of the Saviour, Francis soon after the foundation of 
the Order *4 called his brothers “Minores, Fratres Minores 
—the least, the smallest, Friars Minor.” He would not 
allow any other name to come into use.** For again 
he read in the Gospel: “Amen, I say to you, as long as 
you did it to one of these my least brethren, you did it to 
Me... . Amen, I say to you, as long as you did it not 
to one of these least, neither did you do it to Me.” 26 
The very name by which they were designated was to be 
a reminder to the Friars “that they had come to the school 
of the humble Saviour Jesus Christ in order to learn 
humility.” ?7 

Francis wished that his brothers be not only in name, 
but also in deed and in truth the least and smallest of all, 
Friars Minor. He emphasized the fact that God com- 
manded him to call his sons “Friars Minor” because they 
were to be a poor and humble people.2* Again and again | 
he admonished them: “By our fault we are all wretched 
and corrupt, foul and worms, as the Lord says by the 
Prophet: ‘I am a worm and no man, the reproach of men ' 
and the outcast of the people.’ We should never desire to © 


PRANTI SCAN HUMTELETY 173 


be above others, but ought rather to be servants and 
subject ‘to every human creature for God’s sake.’ ” 2? 

He had hardly gathered the first Friars Minor about 
himself, when he charged them to go and serve the lepers. 
Because they were destined to be the servants of these 
poorest of all men, they were to become completely hum- 
ble, and to remain conscious at all times what it meant to 
be called a Friar Minor, and to be one.?® Whenever 
_ they served in the houses of lay people, they were to 
be bound by the precept forbidding them the position of 
masters, and commanding them to be “inferior and subject 
to all in the same house.” 31 

This precept indeed could not be enforced literally later 
on because of the complete change in the mode of living 
of the Friars. However, as great and varied as the activity 
of the Friars might be, it was always repugnant to the 
Saint to see his brothers occupying a position of honor. 
He frankly and emphatically defended his attitude in this 
regard even before Cardinal Hugolino. The latter desired 
to promote the Friars to the office of bishops and prelates, 
declaring that in the primitive Church such men were pro- 
moted to this dignity who excelled in poverty and charity. 
Francis replied to the Cardinal: “Lord, my brothers have 
been called ‘Minors’ for this reason, that they should not 
presume to become the greater. Our calling teaches us to 
remain standing in the lowland, and to follow the humble 
steps of Christ, whereby the Friars will one day be ex- 
alted above others in the order of saints. If you desire 
that they bear fruit in the Church of God, leave them and 
preserve them in their primitive vocation, and lead them 
back to the lowland, whether they will or not. Lest there- 
fore you make the poor proud, who exalt themselves above 
others, I beseech you, Father, never to allow them to be 
raised to places of honor.” 3? Those Friars who even 
showed ambition to occupy places of honor, he no longer 
considered as Friars Minor.®® And justly so! For “man 
is,” according to the Seraphic Doctor, “humble by reason 


174% "TIIIBELED BAMSSO/FISER SFERTAN ITS 


of his love to be less and smaller; to be humble means to 
be the least of all; . . . to be humble means to be a Friar 
Minor.” *4 

From all that has been said above, it becomes evident 
that Francis wished to establish an Order conspicuous for 
humility, and that this Order and the Friars should more- 
over be more humble, that is, more submissive, more un- 
assuming, more lowly than the other Orders and other 
Religious. 

2. But, above all, Francis endeavored constantly to 
humble himself, to be the least and lowlsest of all himself. 

That was directly contrary to the spirit of the time. It 
was a time marked by social unrest, by ambitious craving 
for aggrandizement, by a mad scramble for honors and 
fame. The princes despised the lower nobility, the no- 
bility despised the bourgeoisie, these despised the peasants, 
and these again the serfs as lesser and meaner. On the 
other hand, the lower classes were vigilant striving 
by honorable or dishonorable means to rise above their 
state, the serfs struggling to become free peasants, the 
peasants aspiring to the citizen class, these to the nobility, 
and the smaller nobles to untrammeled supremacy. Fran- 
cis also, by birth half bourgeois, half noble,-was fired by 
the ambition to parade as King of Youth in his native 
town, and to climb-as-rapidly-as possible to the state of 
knighthood and_nobility. 

And now, what a change! From the first day of his 
conversion, he rejoices in the mockery and the gibes of 
his townsfolk, he glories in being the laughing-stock of 
all, and in casting his lot with the poor and despised. “He 
showed himself submissive to all,” remarks the Anonymus 
Perugian.?> He himself is able to say of himself and his 
first disciples: “We were simple and subject to all.” 3% 

Although he belonged to the clerical state, yet he desired 
to occupy with his brothers the last and lowest place. 
“Let us hold all clerics and Religious as our masters in 
those things which regard the salvation of souls,” 37 was 


ERAN Gils GAN (EUW Miles KRY 175 


his axiom. And he remained faithful to it until death, so 
that he declares in his Testament: “I desire to fear, love, 
and honor them [the poorest priests of this world] and 
all others as my masters.” 38 

In his endeavor to preserve this submissiveness to clergy 
and laity, he adds: “I strictly enjoin by obedience on all 
the brothers, that wherever they may be, they should not 
dare, either themselves or by means of some intermedi- 
ary, to ask any letter in the Roman Curia either for a 
church or for any other place, nor under pretext of preach- 
ing, nor on account of their bodily persecution; but, 
wherever they are not received, let them flee to another 
land to do penance, with the blessing of God.” ®° 

This attitude he maintained during his whole life. At 
one time the Friars counseled him to apply for a Papal 
privilege empowering them to preach everywhere without 
conferring with the clergy. He refused to do so, saying: 
“You Friars Minor do not know the will of God, and you 
do not allow me to convert the whole world as God wishes, 
since I desire, in the first place, to convert the bishops, 
who, seeing our life and holy and humble reverence, will 
themselves call you to preach and convert the people; this 
will avail more than your privilege, that would only lead 
you to pride.” 4° When Brother Philip nevertheless ob- 
tained a privilege in favor of the Poor Clares, he rebuked 
him, “preferring to overcome all difficulties by humility 
rather than by decrees of the court.” 4! 

In his ingenious humility, Francis succeeded even in 
obtaining the last place among the brothers. In speaking 
of the first regulations which the Saint made for the 
young fraternity, the Three Companions add: “Although 
Francis was above all the Friars, he nevertheless appointed 
one of the brothers who dwelt with him as his guardian 
and lord, whom he obeyed humbly and submissively, in 
order thus to avoid all occasion of pride. Among all the 
brothers he bowed his head to the earth, in order to make 
himself worthy to be exalted by God among the saints and 


176°; SEELEN DIERIE 5 70 soar chk yaa oe 


elect.” 42, He regarded it as self-evident that in an Order 
whose characteristic was littleness, he should be the least 
of all, who was the father and exemplar of all. At times 
he would say to his companions: “I should not deem my- 
self a Friar Minor, if I possessed not the spirit which I 
shall describe to you.’ And he said: “Behold, as the 
superior of the Friars I go to the Chapter. I preach to 
the Friars and admonish them, and at the end of my dis- 
course it would be said: ‘Such an ignorant and con- 
temptible man is not fit to be over us; we shall suffer 
thee no longer to rule, for thou knowest not how to speak 
and art simple and ignorant.’ Finally, I am set before the 
door with rough words, despised by all. I say to you, if 
I do not endure these words with even countenance, with 
an even gladness of heart and an even purpose of sanctity, 
I am by no means a Friar Minor.” And he added: “In 
prelacies lurks the fall, in praise the abyss, but in the 
humility of the subject lies gain for the soul. Why then 
do we seek perils more than merit, since we have chosen 
the occasion to gain merit?” # 

How sacredly serious these words were meant, he 
proved by actual fact. As soon as the condition of the 
Order permitted, he resigned the office of Minister Gen- 
eral (1219). All prayers and tears of the brothers were 
unable to shake his determination. “He desired,” says 
Celano, “to preserve the virtue of humility; he therefore 
remained a subject until death, proving himself more 
humble than any Friar.” ** 

For a time he agreed to be accompanied by one of the 
Friars, being unable to find his way about on account of 
a grave malady of the eyes. But he soon dismissed this 
Friar, saying to the Vicar General, Peter Catanii: “I do 
not wish to enjoy any privilege by having a special com- 
panion according to my pleasure, but let the Friars give me 
a companion from place to place as God shall inspire 
them.” And he added: “I once saw a blind man who 


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FRANCISCANHUMILITY 17 


had but a dog to lead him, and I would not be better off 
than ‘he,’ *° 

In order to avoid even the appearance of grandeur, he 
would not tarry in the palaces of great men, even if they 
were prelates of the Church. Cardinal Leo of Santa 
Croce, thus relates St. Bonaventure, having once prayed 
him to remain with him awhile at Rome, Francis humbly 
consented to his desire, for the reverence and love which 
he bore so great a man. On the first night, as he desired 
to take some rest after his prayers, the demons arose in 
great fury against the soldier of Christ, and having 
severely beaten him, they left him as it were half dead. 
When they had gone, Francis called his companion, who 
came to him at once, and to him the holy man related what 
had happened, adding: “I believe, brother, that the de- 
mons, who can do nothing but by the disposition of Divine 
Providence, have beaten me now so cruelly because it is 
not well that I should abide in the courts of princes. My 
brethren, who dwell in poor places, will perhaps think 
when they see me living with cardinals, that I am meddling 
in worldly matters, or seeking after honors, or enjoying 
delicacies. Therefore I judge it far better that he who is 
to give an example to others should fly from courts, and 
dwell humbly among the humble in humble places, that he 
may be able to strengthen those who suffer poverty and 
are ill at ease, seeing that he endures the same things 
himself.” The next morning therefore he offered his 
humble excuses to the Cardinal, and took his leave.*® 

The greatest charm of this passionate love for littleness 
—at the same time the genuine touchstone of humility— 
was the deep reverence and respect with which Francis 
regarded others. “Because he was the humblest of all,” 
remarks Celano, “he was considerate to all men; he accom- 
modated himself to the ways of all. Among the saints he 
was the greatest saint, among sinners he was as one of 
them.” 47 “He met the prelates and priests,’ thus the 
Three Companions testify, “with greatest reverence, the 


78 THEIDEATSTOTBSTEIERDUN GES 


aged with deep respect, the nobles and wealthy with 
esteem, the poor with heartiest love and compassion, all 
men with perfect submission.” #8 

Examples of this charming reverence and humble sub- 
mission toward all classes and all men abound in the life 
of the Saint. Let us mention but one. On his return 
from the Orient, the Saint was one day accompanied by 
Brother Leonard of Assisi. Being greatly fatigued from 
the journey, Francis rode part of the way on an ass. His 
companion, who followed on foot and who was no less 
fatigued, was seized with resentment and thought to him- 
self: “His parents and mine were of the same rank, and 
now he rides, while I go on foot and lead his beast!” 
Hardly had this thought passed through his mind, when 
the Saint dismounted and said: “Nay, brother, it be- 
hooveth not that I ride and thou goest on foot; for thou 
wert once greater and nobler than I in the world.” And 
he compelled Brother Leonard to mount the beast, while 
he himself became the driver.*® 

It was not difficult for Francis, indeed, it was natural, to 
be submissive to all men, because he regarded himself as 
the greatest sinner and the most unworthy of all men. 
The Fioretts has preserved for us a confession of the 
Saint which bears the genuine stamp of truth, and dis- 
closes his charming humility. 

Once, thus the Fioretti relates, St. Francis was lodged 
with Brother Leo in a place where there were no books 
with which to say the Divine Office. And when the hour 
came for matins, St. Francis said to Brother Leo: “My 
beloved, we have no Breviary with which to say matins, 
but in order that we may spend the time in praising God, 
I will speak and thou shalt answer as I shall instruct thee, 
and take heed that thou say not a word other than as I 
tell thee. I will say thus: ‘O Brother Francis, thou hast 
done so many evils and so many sins in thy time, that 
thou hast merited hell’; and thou, Brother Leo, shalt an- 
swer: “Truly, and thou dost merit the deepest hell.’ ” 


ERINGETSCAIN HUMTETEY 179 


And Brother Leo, with the simplicity of a little dove, re- 
plied: “Willingly, Father; begin in the name of God.” 
Then St. Francis began to say: “O Brother Francis, thou 
hast done so many evils and so many sins in thy time, that 
thou hast merited hell.” And Brother Leo replied: “God 
will work so much good through thee, that thou shalt go to 
paradise.” Then said St. Francis: “Say not thus, 
Brother Leo, but when I shall say: ‘Brother Francis, thou 
hast committed so many iniquities against God, that thou 
art worthy to be accursed by God,’ do thou answer thus: 
‘Verily thou art worthy to be placed among the accursed.’ ” 
And Brother Leo replied: “Willingly, Father.” 

Again St. Francis, with many tears and sighs, beating 
his breast, said with a loud voice: “O my Lord, Lord of 
heaven and earth, I have committed against Thee so many 
iniquities, and so many grievous sins that I am worthy to 
be accursed of Thee for them all”; and Brother Leo re- 
plied: “O Brother Francis, God will make thee such that 
amongst the blessed thou shalt be singularly blessed.” And 
St. Francis, marveling that Brother Leo answered con- 
trariwise to what he had imposed on him, reproved him, 
saying: ‘Wherefore dost thou not answer as I have in- 
structed thee? I command thee by holy obedience to 
answer as I will tell thee. I will speak thus: ‘O Brother 
Francis, thou wicked little one, dost thou think that God 
will have mercy on thee, knowing that thou hast com- 
mitted so many sins against the God of mercy and God 
of all consolation, that thou art not worthy to find mercy ?’ 
And thou, Brother Leo, little sheep, shalt answer: ‘By no 
means art thou worthy to find mercy.’”? But when St. 
Francis said: “O Brother Francis, thou wicked one,” and 
the rest, Brother Leo answered him: “God the Father, 
whose mercy is infinitely more than thy sins, will show 
thee great mercy, and, more than this, will add to thee 
many graces.” At which reply, St. Francis, gently angry 
and patiently wroth, said to Brother Leo: “And where- 
fore hast thou presumed to act contrary to obedience, and 


180° “Teo Ey DIE DE SO EIS TI bake ae tips 


so many times answered the contrary to what I imposed 
on thee?” Brother Leo replied humbly and reverently: 
“God knows, my Father, that each time I had it in my 
heart to answer as thou hadst commanded me, but God 
makes me speak as it pleases Him, and not as it pleases 
me.” At which St. Francis marveled, and said to Brother 
Leo: “I pray thee from my heart that this time thou wilt 
answer me as I have told thee.” And Brother Leo an- 
swered: “I speak in the name of God, for this time I will 
answer as thou desirest.” And St. Francis said, weeping : 
“O Brother Francis, thou little wicked one, dost thou think 
God will have mercy on thee?’ Brother Leo replied: 
“Yea, rather, thou shalt receive great grace from God, 
and He will exalt thee, and glorify thee to all eternity, 
because he that humbleth himself shall be exalted, and I 
cannot say otherwise for God speaks by my mouth.” And 
in this humble contention, with many tears and much 
spiritual consolation, they continued until the break of 
day? 

That God had decreed to exalt Francis according to the 
measure of his self-humiliation, was revealed to Brother 
Pacificus in a marvelous vision. While this saintly man 
was absorbed in prayer one day, he was lifted up and rapt 
into: heaven; and he saw in heaven very many seats, and 
one amongst them was raised above the others, glorious to 
behold, adorned with splendor and many precious stones, 
so that he marveled at its great beauty, and wondered 
whose seat this could be. And he heard a voice that said: 
“This was the seat of Lucifer, and in his place will be 
seated the humble Francis.” When he had returned to his 
senses, he asked St. Francis what he thought of himself. 
To which Francis answered: “It seems to me I am a 
greater sinner than anyone else in the world.” And when 
the brother replied that this was not in accordance with 
the truth, Francis said: “If Christ had shown such great 
mercy to a criminal, however wicked he may be, he would 
be tenfold more perfect than I.” 5! 


BRANGPSCANFELUMTIEIZEY 181 


These words open the door to the innermost secret of 
the Saint’s humility. He deemed himself so inexpressibly 
low and unworthy, because he was conscious that all that 
was good and great in him came from God and belonged 
to God. 

He did not, however, by any means fail to recognize 
the good which the Lord wrought in him and through 
him. To overlook this or to deny this would have been 
insincerity or shortsightedness, and at any rate false 
humility. On the contrary, Francis found so much of 
divine grace and goodness in his life that his wonder never 
ceased. He was at all times mindful of the signal proofs 
of divine beneficence which had been vouchsafed him and 
his brothers.°” He declared unreservedly that it was due 
to this divine munificence only, if he and his sons possessed 
or achieved anything good.’? 

It was for this reason that he sought to hide from the 
world all favors and achievements from which worldly 
fame might ensue. He was convinced that fame and 
notoriety became a distinct liability as far as the real soul 
merit was concerned, and he would often declare that it 
were less dangerous not to possess virtue, than to misuse 
virtue for self-glorification.°* He went so far as to forbid 
the reading of the legend of the Moroccan martyrs, be- 
cause it contained flattering mention of himself.°> In like 
manner he studiously endeavored to conceal the Stigmata 
during his lifetime.°® And the admonition he gave to the 
Friars he observed literally himself: ‘Blessed is the serv- 
ant who treasures up in heaven the good things which the 
Lord shows him and who does not wish to manifest them 
to. men through the-hope of reward, for the Most High 
will Himself manifest His works to whomsoever He may 
please. Blessed is the servant who keeps the secrets of 
the Lord in his heart.’’ >“ 

Whenever the fame of his virtue nevertheless was noised 
abroad, he would point to the excess of grace to which 
all credit was due. He would then repeat his favorite com- 


182%. TEE EDISAREEISTONTISTLATURERANIE 125 


parison: “Francis, if the Most High had deigned to grant 
so many graces to a robber, he would show himself more 
grateful than thou.”’5® While others marveled at his 
sanctity, he would remind them: “I may yet commit grave 
carnal sins. Do not praise me as if I were secure. He 
is not worthy to be praised whose end is uncertain.” °° 

In his own heart he was firmly convinced that God had 
favored him so singularly because he was the most un- 
worthy of all men and thus all honor would redound to 
God alone. “Why after thee? why after thee? why 
after thee?” Brother Masseo one day exclaimed to Fran- 
cis, wishing to test his humility. Francis replied: “What 
is it thou wouldst say?” And Brother Masseo made an- 
swer: “Tell me, why is it that all the world runs after 
thee, and everybody desires to see thee, and to hear thee, 
and to obey thee? Thou art not a man either comely of 
person, or of noble birth, or of great knowledge; whence, 
then, comes it that all the world runs after thee?” Hear- 
ing this, Francis, filled with joy in his spirit, raised his 
face toward heaven, and remained for a great while with 
his mind lifted up to God; then, returning to himself, he 
knelt down and gave praise and thanks to God; and then, 
with great fervor of spirit, turning to Brother Masseo, 
he said: “Wouldst thou know why after me? wouldst 
thou know why after me? why all the world runs after 
me? This comes to me, because the eyes of the most high 
God, which behold in all places both the evil and the good, 
even those most holy eyes have not seen amongst sinners 
one more vile, nor more insufficient, nor a greater sinner 
than I, and therefore to do that wonderful work which 
He intends to do He has not found on earth a viler crea- 
ture than I; and for this cause has He elected me to con- 
found the nobility and the grandeur and the strength and 
the beauty and wisdom of the world; that all men may 
know that all virtue and all goodness are of Him and not 
of the creature, and that none should glory in His presence, 


FRANCISCANHUMILITY 183 


but that he who glories should glory in the Lord, to whom 
is all honor and all glory in eternity.” ° 

The more, therefore, he was praised and honored, the 
more contemptible he appeared to himself, and the more 
he abased himself. He suffered grievously in mind 
whenever others praised him and extolled his virtue. In 
the midst of popular acclamation he would be heard sigh- 
ing and groaning for utter sadness. While all others were 
loud in their praise of his deeds and virtues, his sole 
endeavor was to kill in the germ the faintest feeling of 
self-complacency, in order not to offend the eye of God 
and to cause it to turn from him.*! While the impas- 
sioned enthusiasm of the crowds rose and surged about 
him, he would turn to someone and beg him to shower 
insults and reproaches upon him. Or he would call a 
Friar and say to him: “I command thee by obedience, 
that thou revile me and speak the truth to me contrary 
to the lies of these people.” If then the Friar, although 
unwilling, would call him a vile and useless. man, he 
would smile joyously and applaud heartily, saying: “May 
the Lord bless thee, for thou speakest the truth; such 
things the son of Peter Bernardone deserves to hear.” ® 

The praise of men was only then a source of joy to 
him when it redounded to the glory of God alone. One 
day he was preaching with great success at Terni. At 
the conclusion of the sermon the Bishop said to the people: 
“In these latter days God has favored His Church through 
this poor and despised, simple and ignorant man; therefore 
it behooves us to thank God, because we know that He 
does not grant these blessings to every country.” When 
Francis heard the Bishop giving praise to God, but rep- 
resenting him, Francis, as a contemptible person, he threw 
himself at his feet and exclaimed with holy joy: “Lord 
Bishop, thou hast honored me greatly; others rob me of 
what 1s mine, thou alone hast left it untouched. Thou 
hast separated what is precious from the vile, and as a 


1842. Te ie ACTS Oe Ree 


discerning man hast given to God praise and honor, to 
me, however, contempt.” 63 

Francis accordingly wished to be but a shadow before 
the Light Eternal, or rather, even this shadow was to be 
swallowed up in the Light. He compared the true servant 
of God with a painting which represented and glorified 
the Saviour or His blessed Mother Mary. The painting 
laid no claim to the honor which belonged to the Saviour ; 
its object was to promote the honor of God. Thus man 
is naught but a picture representing the blessings of the 
Most High; yes, man is less than a pitcure, less even than 
the wood on which it is painted; he is a pure nothing be- 
fore God. And for this reason he must surrender all 
honor to God.* 

That is the secret of the humility of Francis: he thought 
and acted and lived as if none else existed on earth but 
himself and God alone. He was so overpowered by the 
glory of God that the entire world sank into nothingness 
before it. From this sentiment was born that word full 
of wisdom, so justly admired by the author of the /mita- 
tion of Christ: “How much soever each one is in the eyes 
of God, so much he is and no more.” ® A truly golden, 
truly honest and unselfish, thoroughly chivalrous zeal 
for the honor of his divine Liege Lord! Had not Chris- 
tian knighthood inscribed this humble confession on its 
banner? ® Had not Francis vowed to live and fight for 
his Lord alone as a spiritual knight? Had he not promised 
to follow Christ the Lord as His loyal liegeman? And 
was it not evident that the Son of God had descended 
from the bosom of His Father to our lowliness chiefly 
for this, that He might become the teacher of humility 
by word and example? 67 

Francis therefore forswore all honor which did not 
redound to the glory of Christ.®® As the true herald of 
Christ, he walked before all men on the path of humility.® 
“On this foundation, which Christ had pointed out to 
him, he placed himself and his Order. Humble in his 


DE RAND Sie AN ELLE ish eae 185 


conduct, more humble in his heart, most humble in judg- 
ing himself, this prince by the grace of God excelled all 
others in this jewel only: that among the Friars Minor 
he was the least of all.” 

It need not surprise us, then, that Francis founded 
through his disciples a real school of humility. Thomas 
of Celano was the first to give expression to this thought ™ 
and he declares: “They were in truth Friars Minor, sub- 
mitting themselves to all men, and endeavoring constantly 
to occupy the last place, filling such places only which 
were regarded as the lowest, in order thus to rear with- 
out difficulty the spiritual edifice of all virtues on the 
firm foundation of true humility... . Serving all men 
humbly and with devotion, they drew all men to humility 
and patience.” ’* The Three Companions likewise note 
this characteristic of the first Franciscans: “They were 
so firmly founded and rooted in humility and charity that 
each one honored the other as his father and master; and 
those who excelled among them by virtue of their office 
or any other superiority, appeared as the lower and 
meaner.” 3 Bernard of Bessa attests, that the nobles in 
particular who had joined the fraternity became possibly 
even more humble and meek and simple than all others, 
being conscious of the fact that nothing can be nobler and 
greater than to be a true knight of Christ.74 The Bene- 
dictine Prior, Roger of Wendover, also stresses the fact 
that the outstanding feature of the Order of Friars was, 
next to poverty, their gracious and charming humility.7® 
Cardinal Jacques de Vitry, however, considers, aside from 
poverty, this love of littleness, of lowliness and humility 
as the distinctive mark which sets the Friars aside from 
all other Religious: “That is in truth the Order of the 
poor preachers of the Crucified, whom we call Friars 
Minor,” he writes. “They are in truth Friars Minor 
because in their clothing, in their complete renunciation of 
all earthy things they are humbler than all other Religious 
of this time.” 76 


CHAPTER IX 


OBEDIENCE AND SIMPLICITY OF 
SE. KRANEIS 


OST intimately united, yes, almost synonymous 
with humility is the obedience and simplicity of 
Francis. These two virtues were rooted in his 

humility, and were stamped by it with a peculiar, singular 
character. 

I. Obedience, as evangelical counsel, is indeed vowed 
by all Religious Orders. It is placed, accordingly, at the 
head of the Minorite rule, but with the distinct emphasis 
that the Gospel is its norm and basis: “The rule and the 
life of the Friars Minor is this; namely, to observe the 
Holy Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ, by living in obe- 
dience, without property and in chastity.” 1 Francis indeed, 
in this “evangelical life in obedience, without property 
and in chastity,” placed the greatest weight on the vow 
of poverty. His conception of poverty was, however, 
so sublime that it could not be realized without obedience; 
or rather, that, in conjunction with humility, obedience 
was the final word in the question of poverty. Francis 
was wont to say very ingeniously, that whoever retained 
the purse of self-will, had not yet left all things for God.? 
In_reality, Franciscan poverty, as we have seen, reached 
its zenith in the humble denial of self, in the love of little- 
ness, lowliness, submissiveness. This spirit of deepest 
humility, is, however, evidently at the same time the spirst 
of obedience. Should not monastic obedience under the 
divinely appointed superiors be self-evident to him who 
renders himself small, lowly and submissive to all men? 

186 


OBEDIENCE AND SEMBLIGHTEY 1% 


It is therefore not to be marveled at that Francis was 
as obedient as he was humble. At the head of the regu- 
lations intended for his brotherhood, he placed the dec- 
laration that he himself desired to be obedient to the Lord 
Pope. The first step in the new undertaking was to 
journey to Rome with his companions in order to make 
the vow of obedience personally in the hands of Innocent 
III. How reverent and childlike his devotion and sub- 
mission to the Apostolic See was at all times, we have 
shown elsewhere.? 

This, however, did not satisfy the Saint. In his inge- 
nious love for obedience, he devised a means to be depend- 
ent on the will of an inferior even as Minister General. 
“Although Francis was placed above all the Friars, he 
nevertheless appointed one of them who dwelt with him, 
as his guardian and lord, to whom he was devoutly and 
humbly obedient,” the Three Companions record.? 

But even this solution of the problem did not satisfy 
him. However studiously he sought to be constantly 
under the orders of another—the Fioretts relates many 
touching incidents of this kind °—according to law he was 
the head of the Friars and had no other superior but 
the Pope. He found peace and contentment from that 
day only, when he gave over the direction of the Order 
into the hands of Brother Peter Catanii. He knelt down 
humbly before him and promised constant and inviolable 
obedience. But in order to feel the reins of obedience 
without respite even in the absence of Brother Peter, he 
requested the latter to appoint a Friar as his guardian, 
to whom he could be subject in all things. 

From this hour he obeyed the brother who was placed 
over him, with childlike simplicity. “I know the fruit 
of obedience,” he said. “Not a moment is he without 
merit who bends his neck under the yoke of another.” ® 
It was of no concern to him what was commanded, or 
from whom the command came. He confessed candidly: 
“Among other graces which Divine Mercy granted to 


188.% TDIEPE.I DRATS OK EB Sh RAINEGrES 


me was this, that I should render obedience to a novice 
who had just entered an hour ago, if he were appointed 
my guardian, as diligently as to the oldest and most ex- 
perienced brother. The inferior,” he added, “should not 
behold in the superior the man, but God, for love of 
whom he is subject to others. The more contemptible the 
superior is, the more pleasing to God is the humility of 
the obedient Friar.” 7 

His entire conduct was inspired by this lofty sentiment. 
In his Testament he declares: “I wish to obey the Minister 
General of this brotherhood strictly and the guardian 
whom it may please him to give me. And I wish to be 
captive in his hands so that I cannot go or act beyond 
his obedience and his will, because he is my master.” ® 
His greatest consolation in the hour of death was that 
he was allowed to render the last act of obedience toward 
his guardian.® 

Every member of the primstive Franciscan family 
was animated by the same spirit of obedience. The Three 
Companions attest of Francis and his first disciples: “All 
placed themselves completely in the service of obedience. 
As soon as the command of the superior was given, they 
fulfilled it quickly, without considering whether the com- 
mand were just or unjust. In every command they rec- 
ognized the will of God, and because of this, obedience 
was sweet and easy.” 1° Thomas of Celano likewise says: 
“These most obedient knights would not have ventured 
to prefer anything to the commands of holy obedience. 
The superior had not yet uttered the command when they 
set about to fulfil it. Without passing judgment on the 
command, much less objecting to it, they fairly upset 
themselves in executing it... . As disciples of their 
saintly master the brothers endeavored to fulfil zealously 
not only whatever the Blessed Father said in brotherly 
counsel or commanded with fatherly authority, but also 
whatever he thought or wished, if they became aware of 
it by any sign. For the Blessed Father said himself that 


GRE DD DENG BAND SA NEP Teer Ye a8 


holy obedience does not only fulfil the word, but also 
the thought; not only the command, but also the wish of 
the superior. Not only then when the brother hears the 
voice of the superior, but as soon as he knows his will in 
any manner, he should render obedience without delay 
and put the wish into deed.” 4 

The earliest chroniclers have quite casually and art- 
lessly preserved several interesting snapshots, as it were, 
of such perfect obedience. 

When the Vicar of the Order, Brother Elias, was 
recruiting brothers at the command of Francis for the 
mission to Germany, there was among many others present 
at the Chapter also Jordan of Giano. Elias left him 
the choice of either going to Germany or remaining in 
Italy. But this freedom of choice greatly disturbed 
Brother Jordan. On the one hand, it seemed to him that 
the Vicar was inclined to send him on the mission; but 
on the other, he feared for the salvation of his soul, since 
he thought that the Germans would immediately put him 
and the Friars to death, and he felt that his courage was 
not equal to this ordeal. At the same time he was dis- 
tressed that he could not comply with the wish of his 
superior to make the choice himself. He finally begged 
Brother Elias humbly to command him to enlist for Ger- 
many and martyrdom, or command him to remain. Elias 
then made known his wish, and Jordan joyously joined 
the ranks of the brave band.!? 

In the following year, 1222, the brothers, who had then 
settled at Salzburg, received a letter from Czesar of Speier, 
the first German Provincial, advising them that he left 
the decision in a weighty matter to their own judgment. 
The letter placed them in quandary. Had they not placed 
themselves completely in his hands, and surrendered their 
own judgment by the vow of obedience? How, then, 
could he leave them the freedom of choice in spite of 
their vow? It was only after the Provincial had ex- 


100 .% THEA DB ALS OR SE FERN SS 


pressed in plain terms what he desired in the matter, 
that these disciples of obedience could rest content.!? 

Somewhat later, Brother Nicholas, “the humble,’ for- 
merly a distinguished lawyer, came to Germany, and at 
Gotha he met Brother Jordan of Giano without recog- 
nizing him as his new superior. Both greeted each other 
heartily and conversed with each other in the most cordial 
manner. Suddenly the third companion, Peter of Eisen- 
bach, asked roguishly: “But, Brother Nicholas, dost thou 
not recognize our king and master?” Nicholas quickly 
folded his hands and replied humbly: “Certainly, I recog- 
nize my lord and am willing to serve him.” “Behold 
then,” answered Peter, “this is our Custos.’ Nicholas 
thereupon threw himself upon his knees before his supe- 
rior, begged his pardon for having received him so dis- 
respectfully, and from that moment showed such child- 
like obedience that Brother Jordan felt the greatest re- 
luctance in giving commands to such a learned and obe- 
dient man.!? 

In 1224 the Friars came to England. The French 
Provincial, who had been charged with the mission, 
turned to a young cleric with the question whether he 
also wished to go to England. The latter, however, 
named William of Esseby, replied instantly that he did 
not know whether he wished to go or not. Seeing the 
surprised look on the face of the Provincial, William 
explained that he did not in fact know whether he wished 
to go, since his will was not his own, but that of his min- 
ister. Later on, the superior allowed him to choose the 
house where he wished to be, and William again replied 
obediently that the place which suited him best was the 
one designated by his superior.’ 

The same spirit of childlike obedience was characteristic 
of Brother Giles, one of the “Knights of the Round 
Table,” as Francis called him because of his courageous 
obedience and his instant readiness to undertake any task 
assigned to him.!° One day he asked the Saint what 


BEEDDENGR AINDNSIMETTSET Y A091 


he should do and whither he should go. Francis replied: 
“Whatever thou wilt and whithersoever thou wilt.” Giles 
thereupon wandered about for four days as the mood 
led him. Soon, however, this freedom of action dis- 
quieted him to such an extent that he returned to Francis 
and said: “Father, send me whither thou wilt, for in such 
free obedience my soul cannot find rest.” 7 

Some time later he was recalled from Agello, near the 
Lake of Trasimene, to Assisi. The order reached him 
when he happened to be outside the Friary. He instantly 
set out for his new destination, and nothing could induce 
him to return for a while to the Friary. “I have been 
told to go to Assisi, and not that I set my foot once more 
in my former dwelling,” was the answer of the obedient 
knight.18 

From the above it may be seen that the disciples were 
animated by the same spirit of obedience as their master, 
who had declared: “I wish to obey the Minister General 
of this brotherhood strictly and the guardian whom it may 
please him to give me. And I wish to be captive in his 
hands so that I cannot go or act beyond his obedience 
and his will, because he is my master.” 

It was this complete submtsston to the will of the supe- 
rior which Francis placed before his disciples as the only 
true obedience. He declared that obedience was only 
then perfect when the seli-will of the subject played 
absolutely no part. Thus, one might be called “obedient” 
if the superior were asked to grant a favor and he then 
gave his consent. But entire and complete obedience im- 
plied that the superior give commands of his own accord. 
The former was permission, the latter obedience in the 
true sense of the word. The former suffices for salvation, 
the latter alone, however, leads to sanctity.!? After these 
remarks Francis sighed: “There is hardly one Religious 
in the whole world who is perfectly obedient to his 
superior.” When the Friars urged him to describe more 
fully the perfect and most sublime obedience, he com- 


192.% LIHE I DEALS OR SSH HISRZAINGEES 


pared the obedient man with a corpse, saying: “Take a 
dead body and place it anywhere you please. You will 
see it offers no resistance against being moved, it com- 
plains not against its position, it will not cry out if you 
let it go. If you seat it on a throne it will not look up 
or down, and to clothe it in purple but makes it more 
pale. Thus is the truly obedient man. He reasons not 
why he is sent; he minds not where he is placed, nor insists 
upon being sent elsewhere. If he be promoted to office, 
he still remains humble; the more he is honored, the more 
he counts himself unworthy.” °° 

This perfect submission to the will of the superior must 
be rendered by the Friar in all things, under all circum- 
stances, and at all times. 

In all things. Francis prescribes in each of his rules 
that the brothers are to obey in all things “which are 
not against their souls and our rule’?! In his Words 
of Admonition he explains this more fully: “The Lord 
says in the Gospel: ‘He that doth not renounce all that he 
possesseth, cannot be My disciple.’ *? That man leaves all 
he possesses and loses his body and his soul who abandons 
himself wholly to obedience in the hands of his superior, 
and whatever he does or says—provided he himself knows 
that what he does is good and not contrary to the supe- 
rior’s will—is true obedience. And if at times a subject 
sees things which would be better or more useful to his 
soul than those which the superior commands him, let 
him sacrifice his will to God, let him strive to fulfil the 
work enjoined by the superior. This is true and charitable 
obedience, which is pleasing to God and to one’s neighbor. 
If, however, a superior command to a subject anything 
that is against his soul, it is permissible for him to dis- 
obey ; but he must not leave the superior, and if in conse- 
quence he suffer persecution from some, he should love 
them the more for God’s sake. For he who would rather 
suffer persecution than wish to be separated from his 
brethren, truly abides in perfect obedience, because he 





OBE DLE NCE AGN DSH MET LG iil Y-193 


lays down his life for his brothers.?? For there are many 
Religious who, under pretext of seeing better things than 
those which their superiors command, look back ** and 
return to the folly of their own will.2° These are homi- 
cides, and by their bad example they cause the loss of 
many souls.” 76 

The brothers should obey under all circumstances. 
Francis would allow no excuses or subterfuges, however 
justified they might seem, when there was a question of 
obedience. On one occasion one of the Friars had a great 
longing to see the Blessed Father. The guardian would 
not grant permission to go, and the brother undertook 
the journey on his own responsibility, trusting in the 
kindness of Francis. The latter, however, rebuked him 
severely, and then commanded him to remove his cowl. 
He then took it and cast it into the fire. And lo! though 
lying in the midst of the raging flames, it was not con- 
sumed by the fire. “A sign,” remarks Celano humor- 
ously, “that Francis had spoken rightly, and perhaps, too, 
that the erring brother had not sinned so grievously.” ?7 

Some of the brothers were of the opinion that at least 
prayer and meditation were preferable to obedience. Thus 
a Friar one day came to Brother Giles and said with a 
touch of indignation: “Father, I was just now in my 
cell at prayer, and my guardian bids me go begging; 
now it seems to me that it is better to pray than to beg.” 
Giles, who had inherited the true spirit of Francis, made 
answer: “Brother, believe me, thou knowest not yet what 
prayer is, for the most true and perfect thing is to do 
the will of thy superior.” Another time he said: “He who 
places his head beneath the yoke of obedience, and after- 
ward, that he may follow the path of perfection, withdraws 
his head from beneath the yoke of obedience—this is a 
sign of great hidden pride. A truly obedient Religious 
is like a soldier, well-armed, seated upon a good horse, 
who passes safely among the enemy and no one can 
harm him. But the Religious who obeys murmuringly is 


194 7 SUEDE DD ACE SO STRIRFIN EHE 


like an unarmed soldier seated upon a poor and stubborn 
horse, who, passing among the enemy, falls and is at once 
taken by the foe, chained, wounded, imprisoned, and 
then put to death. It seems to me, that if one were in 
such great grace that he might speak with the angels, 
if he were called by a man to whom he had promised obe- 
dience, he ought to leave off his colloquy with the angels 
and obey the man, because while he is subject in this 
world, he is bound to obey the man to whom he is subject 
for love of the Creator.” 28 

The brothers were to obey at all times. That is per 
haps the most notable feature of obedience as conceived by 
Francis. As he himself was disquieted whenever he was 
beyond the immediate direction of a superior, he also 
admonished the brothers never to be outside the pale of 
obedience, since obedience alone called down God’s bless- 
ing, just as disobedience brought His curse.”” Brother 
Giles expressed the same sentiment when he said: “The 
more a Religious is held beneath the yoke of obedience 
for the love of God, so much the greater fruit will he reap. 
So long as the ox holds his head beneath the yoke it fills 
the granaries with grain; on the contrary, the ox not hold- 
ing his head beneath the yoke, and which wanders about, 
seems to itself to be a great lord, but the granaries are 
not filled with grain. The great and the wise humbly put 
their heads beneath the yoke of obedience, and the foolish 
withdraw their heads from beneath the yoke and will 
not obey.” 30 

Francis went even further. If the superior chanced 
to be absent, he desired that the Friar should obey any 
other brother who happened to be present. He was, of 
course, well aware that this was not the strict obedience 
due only to the lawfully appointed superior, but rather the 
zealous fostering of the spirit of obedience, or, as he 
expressed it, the voluntary obedience of love. “The 
brothers,” he said, “should willingly serve and obey each 


OBE DEEN CE AN D’SIMBLEGTT Y 3105 


other in the spirit of charity; and this is the true and 
holy obedience of Our Lord Jesus Christ.’ *4 

Still more. In order to practise the virtue of obedience 
constantly and perfectly, they were to be submissive to 
all men; yea, to all creatures. Francis declares expressly 
of himself and his first disciples in his Testament: “We 
were simple and submissive to all men.”?? In his Praise 
of Obedience he says: “Holy obedience confounds all 
bodily and fleshly desires and keeps the body mortified 
to the obedience of the spirit and to the obedience of one’s 
brother, and makes a man subject to all the men of this 
world, and not to men alone, but also to all beasts and 
wild animals, so that they may do with him whatsoever 
they will, insofar as it may be granted to them from 
above by the Lord.” 33 

With this well-nigh heroic conception of obedience, 
Francis merely makes the final deduction from his con- 
ception of humility, according to which he and his dis- 
ciples are to be the smallest, the least, the most submissive 
of all men, and thus be in truth Minores, Friars Minor, 
after the words of the Gospel.*4 

This unrestricted condition of service and submission 
on the part of the subjects would indeed have led to 
slavery and tyranny if Francis had not on the other hand 
likewise placed the relation of the superiors toward their 
subjects entirely on the Gospel. The Gospel makes the 
superiors the ministers and servants of their subjects and 
designates every form of domineering as pagan abuse 
of power. Francis accordingly says: “The ministers and 
servants [minstrs et servs]”—that is the official title, the 
purely evangelical title of superiors—‘“should remember 
what the Lord says: ‘I have not come to be ministered 
unto, but to minister.’ . . . Let there not be power and 
authority among the brothers, for as the Lord says in 
the Gospel: “The princes of the Gentiles lord it over them: 
and they that are the greater exercise power over them.’ 
It shall not be thus among the brothers, but ‘whosoever 


1096 "TI EHE PDAS Obese eRe RS 


will be the greater among them, let him be their minister 
and servant, and he that is the greater among them, let 
him be as the younger.’ ”’ °? 

That is the main feature and the most important ele- 
ment in the constitution of the Franciscan Order, that 
the superiors are regarded as “ministers and servants.” 
Francis stressed this point frequently and emphatically. 
These terms occur so frequently 3° that no one can fail to 
realize how great a weight Francis laid on this conception. 
He expressly declines the titles customary in other Orders, 
such as the name Prior, “the first.” 87 Thus, the custom 
of addressing the superior of the entire Order as “Min- 
ister General,” of a Province as “Minister Provincial,” 
was sanctioned even during the lifetime of the Saint. The 
superior of a smaller number of houses was called “Cus- 
tos,” the superior of a house “Guardian”: both terms are 
a degree lower than that of Minister, having the sense of 
a watchman, overseer, menial, body-servant.’® 

Francis repeatedly impressed the superiors with their 
duty to conduct themselves in truth as the ministers and 
servants of their brothers, in accordance with their desig- 
nation. He describes the true Minister General as one 
who is at the service of all brothers, accessible to all, and 
helpful to all in word and deed; who receives and serves 
without distinction the little and simple ones as well as 
the great and learned ones; who, the more learned he 
himself is, shows himself all the more condescending and 
accessible.?9 

The same qualities must also adorn the Ministers Pro- 
vinctal. They are to be friendly in their converse with 
even the least of the brothers, and filled with such kind- 
ness and benevolence that even the sinners do not fear to 
open their hearts to them. They should be moderate in 
commanding, lenient toward offenses, more willing to 
suffer wrong than to avenge it, foes to wrong-doing, 
physicians to the sinners.*° 

He counsels all superiors: “Command seldom in obe- 


VEREDDEN GR AINDISTMPTSTUTT Y 97 


dience! Do not quickly have recourse to severe measures! 
Do not easily take the sword in hand!” #4 And he admon- 
ishes them: “Let him to whom obedience has been en- 
trusted and who is considered greater, become as the 
lesser and the servant of the other brothers, and let him 
show and have the mercy toward each of his brothers 
that he should wish to be shown to himself if he were 
in the like situation. And let him not be angry with a 
brother on account of his offense, but let him advise him 
kindly and encourage him with all patience and humil- 
ity.’ 42, He commands all the superiors of the Order: 
“Those brothers that are ministers and servants of the 
other brothers . . . shall humbly and charitably correct 
them. .. . And let them receive the brothers charitably 
and kindly and show so great familiarity toward them 
that they may speak and act with them as masters with 
their servants, for thus it ought to be, since the ministers 
are the servants of all the brothers.” 43 

The superiors, however, who are thus in truth the minor 
brothers of their brothers, Francis wishes to be revered 
and honored and loved for Christ’s sake, because they 
bear in the name of God the cares and burdens of all, 
and are worthy of the supreme reward before God.* 
He calls them “blessed”: “Blessed is that superior who 
shall be found as humble among his subjects as if he 
were among his masters!” #5 

Francis himself had been such a superior, calling him- 
self in his Testament “the little one and servant” of the 
brothers.4® Superiors of this kind are repeatedly met 
with among the disciples of Francis. One instance is 
worthy of mention, being typical of the Franciscan Ideal. 
In 1225 a Custos was to be appointed for Saxony. Blessed 
Albert of Pisa, at that time Provincial of Germany, had 
selected for this office Brother Nicholas of Reno, with 
whom we have already become acquainted. Foreseeing 
that the latter would refuse the office because of his pro- 
found humility, he did not send the appointment by letter, 


198 SIEH EI DEATLSTOLHISTABRIIN GES 


but went in person to persuade him to accept the office. 
Brother Nicholas demurred, saying that he lacked admin- 
istrative ability, and could not act the part of prelate and 
lord. The Provincial took him at his word and said with 
seeming indignation: “Ah, brother, thou canst not act 
the part of a lord! Are we, then, lords who hold office 
in the Order? Confess thy fault instantly, brother, be- 
cause thou hast called the offices in the Order which are 
in reality burdens and services, lordships and prelacies.” 
And as penance Nicholas was then commanded to assume 
the office of Custos. He filled it with his accustomed 
humility, being always the first when there was a menial 
task to be performed, such as cleansing the dishes or 
washing the feet of the brothers. Whenever he was 
forced to impose on a brother the penance of sitting on 
the floor or of taking the discipline, he performed the 
penance with him in true humility. Yet he punished 
severely every show of stubbornness, in order to prove 
by word and example how great an evil disobedience is 
and how the brothers should obey in all simplicity.?? 

That is the Ideal of Franciscan obedience: superiors 
and subjects in humble contention for the last place, and 
united in this rivalry—as we shall see—by the bond of 
true brotherly love. 

2. The simplicsty of Francis, like his obedience, is the 
product of his humility. Both humility and simplicity 
are so Closely related that only the keenest eye can detect 
the difference. He is humble who desires to be accounted 
than he is.*? To be accounted more than one is, detracts 
from simplicity ; to appear other than one is, detracts from 
humility. For this reason Francis so frequently mentions 
simplicity and humility in one breath, and speaks of the 
former with such rapturous enthusiasm that a child of 
the world is justly astounded. 

For the world has at best only a deprecating smile for 
simplicity, often even contempt and mockery. The very 


OBEDIENCEANDSIMPLICITY 199 


word itself has become an expression of contempt. The 
majority of men will rather suffer to be called clever, 
shrewd, cunning, crafty, false, tricky and double-tongued, 
than to be called simple. This noble virtue has been so 
thoroughly proscribed, that it requires almost heroic 
courage to break a lance in its defense, and more so to 
practise it in all conditions of life. Pretense and boast- 
fulness, hypocrisy and deceit, duplicity and double-dealing 
rule not only commerce, politics and worldly culture, but 
also the mutual conventions of society; yea, even the most 
intimate relations of family life are infected by this virus. 
We have even forgotten to be honest, upright and simple 
with ourselves and with God. Duplicity is in fact the true 
spirit of the world and of our time. 

But the spirit of Christianity is simplicsty. What is 
more charming than the simplicity of the Saviour, that 
simplicity which attracted the children to Him strongly 
and which scandalized none but perverse Phariseeism! 
And what is more appealing than the Gospel of sim- 
plicity of the Saviour: “Amen I say to you, unless you 
become as little children, you shall not enter the kingdom 
of heaven!” 42 Unless you become as little children— 
frank, open, candid, upright, natural, unaffected, true and 
straightforward, in a word:.simple! 

This simplicity is the distinguishing mark of the saints, 
and of every genuine Christian. If duplicity or hypocrisy 
could be charged against them, all virtues would not coun- 
terbalance this one defect. The character of simplicity 
was impressed especially on the Christian culture and 
mysticism of the Middle Ages. And sts most charming 
blossom was St. Francis of Asstsi. 

Thomas of Celano declares: “Holy simplicity, this 
daughter of grace, sister of wisdom, mother of justice, 
was fostered by the Saint with exceeding great zeal in 
himself and cherished by him in others. Yet not every 
kind of simplicity did he call good, but that alone which, 
content with its God, counted all other things as little.” 50 


200. THE TD BAW S6@ By SIEREIREEN URS 


A profound conception of simplicity! Duplicity and de- 
ception aim to appear different, better in the eyes of the 
world than one really is in the eyes of God. Simplicity, 
however, aims to appear as one is in the judgment of the 
all-knowing and all-just Judge, without regard to the 
judgment of creatures. This was the simplicity which 
animated Francis. His constant endeavor was never to 
appear before men better than he was and thought and 
acted in the eyes of God. 

‘One day, being ill and weak, he rode on a beast and 
chanced to pass a peasant’s dwelling. The peasant has- 
tened to him and inquired whether he were Brother 
Francis. When Francis nodded humbly, the peasant ad- 
monished him: “Take heed that thou be as good as thou 
art said and praised to be; for many have faith in thee. 
Therefore I admonish thee never to appear other than 
people believe.” Hearing these words Francis quickly dis- 
mounted, cast himself on his knees before the peasant 
and kissed his feet, thanking him heartily for having 
thus admonished him.’! 

This principle of conduct conveyed by the naive words 
of the peasant had in fact been always observed by 
Francis with scrupulous anxiety. Thomas of Celano de- 
scribes at length how the Saint was animated from the 
very beginning by the sole endeavor to become perfect 
before God, without the least thought of the judgment 
of the world. He then adds: “He was constantly solic- 
itous for holy simplicity.” °? How truly this is said, is 
evident to everyone who has acquainted himself with 
Francis and his life. He not only avoided every shadow 
of hypocrisy; he was, on the contrary, simply not capable 
of such. And this is the very element which renders his 
deep, rich and extraordinary personality so easily under- 
stood, so close and intimate, and so natural, because he 
appeared never other than he was, always candid, clear, 
plain and simple as a child. 

As soon as he became aware that what he did in secret 


OBEDLENCE AND SEMELIGETY 201 


did not harmonize with the favorable impression which 
his public actions made, he would call the attention of 
the people to it. At one time he lay ill in the hermitage 
at Pogglio during the Advent fast, and was in need of 
more nourishing food. Preaching to the people around 
Christmas time, he began his sermon with the words: 
“You consider me a holy man and have therefore piously 
journeyed hither. But I confess to you that during this 
entire season of fast I have taken food prepared with 
bacon.” °3 

Another time, convalescing from illness, he partook 
of some chicken meat. As soon as he was able to leave 
the house, he hastened to Assisi in order to preach in 
the market place. Having arrived at the gate of the city, 
he commanded his companion to place a rope around his 
neck, to lead him as a bandit through the streets and 
to call out like a town-crier: “Behold the glutton who 
fattened himself on the meat of fowls, which he ate with- 
out your knowledge.” In this manner he frequently ex- 
posed himself to the people.’? 

During the winter his guardian had at one time pro- 
cured him a piece of fox fur and said to him: “Father, 
thou art suffering grievously, I beg thee for the love of 
God to allow me to sew this piece of fur beneath thy 
habit, at least so as to cover the stomach.” The Saint 
replied: “If thou wilt that I wear it underneath the habit, 
then place also a like piece on the outside, in order to let 
the people know that there is a fur hidden within.” All 
remonstrances were to no avail, so that the guardian was 
finally forced to sew a piece within and without, and the 
sick man thus appeared outwardly as he was in secret.” 
The biographer remarks hereto: “O thou, the same in 
word and deed, the same within and without, the same 
as subject and as superior! Thou hast never loved the 
praise of men, nor the praise of self, who hast ever gloried 
in the Lord alone!” 56 

If at times even a thought arose in him which seemed 


202. TERE IDEAL S OR STIRRIAIN ES 


to him an imperfection, he did not hesitate to confess it 
openly. He wished to be at all times as clear as crystal, 
and thus entirely transparent to all. While walking 
through the streets of Assisi one day, he met an old 
woman who asked an alms of his charity. Having nothing 
with him but his mantle, he joyously gave this to her. 
Soon after, however, a temptation to vain-glory arose in 
his heart. He immediately confessed before all present 
that he had felt a sense of pride because of his act of 
charity.°7 

On one occasion he felt a desire to speak with Brother 
Bernard. The latter, however, was so rapt in God that 
he did not heed the voice of Francis. This annoyed the 
Saint somewhat and he secretly fretted because of this 
disobedience of the brother. But as soon as he became 
aware of his fault, he confessed it openly, cast himself on 
the ground, and said to Brother Bernard: “I command 
thee under holy obedience, that in order to punish my 
presumption and the rashness of my heart, when I shall 
cast myself down upon the ground, thou shalt put one foot 
on my throat and the other on my mouth, and then pass 
over me three times from one side to the other, speaking - 
to me reproachfully and contemptuously, and especially 
saying to me: ‘Lie there, miserable little son of Peter 
Bernardone; whence comes to thee so much pride, seeing 
thou art a most vile creature?’ ” 58 

In his simplicity Francis frequently subjected himself 
to similar humiliations because of such imperfections in 
thought. Thomas of Celano writes in general terms: 
“He did many things of this kind, in order to render 
himself altogether contemptible and to encourage others 
to strive after imperishable glory. To himself he appeared 
as an unworthy vessel; . . . he exposed himself without 
mercy to every dishonor, lest self-love lead him to desire 
earthly things.” °° Truly, “a man with the simplicity of 
a dove,” remarks a contemporaneous chronicler. 

Francis impressed the same character on his disciples, 


GBEDIEENEE AND SIMERLELEIE NY 203 


Among the virtues which he enjoined on them from the 
first day, simplicity always occupied a prominent place. 
“The blessed Father taught them to fulfil evangelical per- 
fection, to observe poverty, and to walk in the way of 
holy simplicity,” writes a contemporary.®! In order to 
test the simplicity of his brothers he at times resorted 
to measures that appear to us almost childish, as when 
he commanded Brother Masseo to turn in a circle until he 
became dizzy and fell to the ground, or when he sent 
Brother Rufino to Assisi to preach without a habit.6* He 
punished faults against simplicity severely, as in the case 
of the young Friar who out of charity or humility would 
not confess to the Saint that he had been harshly treated 
by his older companion. 

He thus educated his brothers to an almost incredible 
degree of simplicity. They revealed to him the most 
secret thoughts and emotions of their heart.** Simplicity 
had become as it were a second nature to them, so that 
every form of insincerity or duplicity was unknown to 
them, and their entire life was one of marvelous purity 
and innocence.® 

The primitive days of Franciscan history present many 
splendid examples of saintly simplicity. Besides the above- 
mentioned Brothers Masseo and Rufino, may be pointed 
out: the first Friars in England, who joined with a great 
zeal for learning a truly childlike simplicity in speech 
and action; °® Brother Giles, whose entire life was a pic- 
ture of simple wisdom and wise simplicity; Brother Juni- 
per, whose dovelike simplicity caused the Saint to ex- 
claim: “My brothers, my brothers, would that I had a 
whole forest of such junipers!’ ;®? Brother James, “the 
Simple,” who went to such extremes in nursing the lepers 
with whose service he was charged by Francis, that the 
Saint was forced to rebuke him mildly ;°® Brother John, 
likewise called “the Simple,” whom Francis wished to 
have about himself constantly because of his simplicity. 
Brother John had but one wish—to become like his 


204.) THE IDEAL ORIST ERADEERES 


master in all things. If he beheld Francis at prayer, he 
imitated the least of his gestures. If Francis spit out, 
John did likewise ; if Francis coughed, John coughed also ; 
if Francis wept and groaned, John wept and groaned; if 
Francis raised his arms to heaven, John did likewise. 
When questioned by the Saint why he did thus, he replied: 
“I have promised at my entrance into the Order to live 
exactly as thou; it were perilous to act otherwise in the 
least.” Francis laughed joyously at his naive simplicity 
and explained to the brother that it was not meant just so. 
It would suffice if he were to follow the rule of the 
Order with the same simplicity and sincerity of mind. A 
short time afterward the Brother died, simple as he had 
always been. Francis often pointed to him later as a 
model of simplicity, and never called him Brother John, 
but always the Blessed John.°® And rightly so. For 
according to the words of the Saviour 7° this childlike 
character, this guileless, unassuming, unselfish simplicity 
is the quintessence of all perfection and sanctity. 

For this reason Francis wished that his Order preserve 
this spirit of simplicity and sincerity under all circum- 
stances and for all twmes. Whenever he was urged to 
adapt himself and the Order more to the life of the 
Benedictines, Cistercians or Augustinians, he declined 
quickly and firmly, saying: “My brothers, my brothers, 
the Lord has called me to the way of simplicity and 
humility, and this way He has revealed to me in truth 
for myself and for all who wish to follow me.”™ In 
his dying moments he admonished his brothers to under- 
stand the rule and to live according to it in the spirit of 
simplicity: “As the Lord has given to me to speak and 
to write the rule and these words [the Testament] simply 
and purely, so shall you understand them simply and 
purely and with holy operation observe them until the 
éndiiaic 

In his solicitude for holy simplicity he constantly 
warned the present and future brothers against the spirit 


OBEDITIENGEAND SIMPLICIT Y 205 


and the wisdom of the world, which seeks more the ap- 
pearance than the truth, more affectation than sincerity, 
more exterior ostentation than inner perfection.?® 
“Brothers,” he said, “let us keep ourselves from the wis- 
dom of this world, and the prudence of the flesh; for 
the spirit of the world wishes and cares much for words, 
but little for work; and it seeks not religion and interior 
sanctity of spirit, but wishes and desires a religion and 
sanctity appearing from without to men. And these are 
they of whom the Lord says: ‘Amen, I say unto you, 
they have received their reward.’** But the spirit of 
the Lord wishes the flesh to be mortified and despised, 
and to be considered vile, abject, and contemptible; and 
it studies humility and patience, pure simplicity and true 
peace of mind, and always desires above all things divine 
fear and divine wisdom, and the divine love of the Father 
and the Son and the Holy Ghost.” ® And again: “Let 
us not be wise and prudent according to the flesh, but 
let us rather be simple, humble and pure.” 76 

Francis nevertheless recognized that wisdom directed 
toward God and united with God, was no enemy of sim- 
plicity. Indeed, he praised both as two sisters: “Hail 
Queen, Holy Wisdom! May the Lord save thee with thy 
sister holy pure Simplicity!” ™™ He constantly admonished 
the Friars who were occupied with studies to exercise 
themselves equally in science and simplicity: “I would 
have my brothers to be disciples of the Gospel and so 
to increase in knowledge of the truth that they may grow 
at the same time in purity and simplicity, so that they 
may not separate from the wisdom of the serpent the 
simplicity of the dove, which our Divine Master joined 
together with His blessed mouth.” 78 

He went even further. His axiom was: the more 
simple and humble the learned brother was, the more 
progress will he make in the science of God,’® and the 
greater his learning, the simpler he should strive to be in 
his thoughts and actions.®° 


206.5 UHE°TD BRAMESO TEST TER EEE 


At the same time the Saint did not fail to see that the 
unlettered lay-brothers would be of marked influence in 
preserving the character of simplicity in the Order. Their 
very station and condition demanded simplicity, and Fran- 
cis accordingly called them his “simple brothers,” and he 
esteemed them highly as an essential element of the Order. 
Whenever he had his tonsure cut as cleric, he would say 
to the Friar performing this task: “Do not make the 
crown too large, so that my simple brothers may also find 
place on my head.” 54 

For the sake of simplicity he therefore wished the 
Order to embrace unlettered lay-brothers as well as edu- 
cated clerics. “Before God,” he said, “there is no respect 
of persons, and the Minister General of the Order, the 
Holy Ghost, rests on the poor and simple ones as well as 
on the rich and learned.” He had even wished to insert 
these words in the rule, but could not do so because it 
had already been approved by the Pope.®? Both classes 
of brothers were to vie with each other for the palm of 
simplicity.’ Both, united by the bond of simplicity, were 
to become a spectacle unto heaven and earth. “Our. 
Order,” he said, “is like an immense gathering, in a meas- 
ure a general council, which convenes from all parts of 
the world under one mode of life. Therein the wise draw 
profit from that which is of the simple, because they see 
how the unlearned seek the heavenly things with fiery zeal 
and how the simple brothers become wise in spiritual 
things through the Holy Spirit. Therein the simple like- 
wise draw profit from that which is of the wise, seeing 
how most learned men condescend to them, although they 
might lead a life of fame in the world. In this,” he con- 
cluded, “shines forth the beauty of this blessed family, 
whose manifold charm delights the heavenly Father.” 8? 


CHAPTER X 


CHASTITY AND PENANCE OF 
Sl, EHRANEIS 


S OBEDIENCE and simplicity are the two main 
A branches on the tree of humility, thus chaststy is its 
fragrant blossom. Just as it is impossible to be 
chaste without humility—theology and experience both 
bear witness to this—so also it is easy for the humble 
man to remain chaste, and to him it is self-evident that 
he must esteem and cherish chastity above all else. We 
need not marvel, therefore, if it is said of Francis: “Next 
to humility, which is the foundation of all virtues, the 
Saint loved and esteemed in his brothers especially the 
virtue of chastity in all its purity and beauty.” ! 

Both nature and grace seemed to have predestined 
Francis to a rare excellence in this virtue. He had been 
born and reared by a mother who stands forth as a perfect 
model of moral greatness and purity.” From her motherly 
pride sprang the one ambition to behold her son grow 
up with the same moral greatness and purity, so that she 
was wont to say: “What do you think will become of 
my son? With the aid of grace he will surely become a 
man of God.” 3 

Even in the midst of the reckless frivolity of his youth, 
Francis preserved his innocence unsullied. The Three 
Companions are able to testify: “He was, as it were, by 
nature and by generous resolve, of a noble character in 
conduct and speech. Never did he utter an unseemly 

207 


208 WI. H FIT D HARE S70 Voie) eben eles 


‚word. Yea, although a youth of great joviality, he made 
it a rule never to answer ribald language. For this he 
was greatly esteemed in the entire vicinity, and many who 
knew him declared that he would yet become a great 
man.” 4 

After he had said a final farewell to worldly pleasures, 
and had espoused Lady Poverty, he guarded the purity 
of his heart and life with redoubled zeal.° Whenever 
he experienced an improper emotion or sensation, he re- 
sorted to measures which make us shudder. In the middle 
of the most severe winter he plunged himself into icy 
water, remaining therein until the carnal desire had com- 
pletely vanished.© This extreme severity surprises us all 
the more, since there was evidently no question of tempta- 
tion to impurity, but merely to sensuality. He declared, 
however, that it were incomparably more bearable to a 
spiritual man to suffer great cold in the body than to 
feel even in slight measure the fire of sensuality in the 
spirit.’ 

He thus preserved mind and body from every blemish 
until death. Although he declared himself to be the 
greatest of sinners, yet he never confessed himself guilty 
of any failing against chastity. Brother Leo, his con- 
fessor, never detected in him even a shadow in this regard. 
One day the unstained innocence of the Saint was revealed 
to Brother Leo in a vision. He beheld a lofty mountain, 
on the peak of which Francis walked alone. At his sur- 
prised query what this vision signified, a voice answered : 
“The mountain is virginity, on whose height Francis, 
truly the most chaste servant of God, constantly abides.” ® 
His unstained purity was impressed even on his counte- 
nance. Whoever approached him, instinctively felt the 
childlike innocence of the Saint, of whom his first biog- 
rapher writes: “Oh, how beautiful, how glorious he ap- 
peared in the innocence of his life, in the purity of his 
heart, in his angelic countenance!” 1° 

In order to forestall every danger, Francis observed the 


DIENST INEN N UD ele NAN Gah 209 


greatest caution and reserve in his dealings with the 
opposite sex. He designated familiarity with women as 
sugared poison, which causes the weakling to fall, and 
often exposes the strong to severe temptations. He said, 
“To deal with women and still to escape their harmful 
influence, is, except for a man well-tried in virtue, as 
easy (as it is written) as to walk through fire and not 
burn the soles of his feet.” #4 

He therefore commanded his brothers to shun the soci- 
ety of women as much as possible. He explained this 
injunction by saying that a Friar should speak with them 
only in case of confession, or for the sake of brief admo- 
nition and instruction. He remarked: “What has a Friar 
Minor to say to a woman, except in confession or for 
the sake of encouragement to a more spiritual life?” 12 

He himself was guided by this principle during his 
whole life. It was only with the greatest reluctance that 
he conversed with women. As soon as their tedious gos- 
siping conflicted with his brief and humble speech, he 
broke off and resorted to silence with downcast eyes. He 
would often then raise his eyes to heaven, as if he wished 
to draw thence the words with which to reply to their 
vapid talk. Those, however, who came to him with the 
earnest desire to be instructed in matters of spiritual 
life and who utilized their conversation with him for true 
progress in virtue, he instructed with wondrously wise, 
but few words. When speaking with a woman, he would 
raise his voice in such manner that all could hear him.!? 

At the same time he observed scrupulously great mod- 
esty of the eyes. In this he went so far that he was 
able to confess to his companion on one occasion: “I 
assure thee, most beloved brother, I should not recognize 
any woman by countenance, if I were to look at her, 
except two. These two I know, but none other.” 4 
Thomas of Celano, who records these words of the Saint, 
adds the following incident. Francis was one day on 
the way to Bevagna, when he collapsed at the roadside, 


2102 DELBREDTSAITISFTOTH SER BER SINE 


exhausted by a long and severe fast. He sent his com- 
panion to a pious woman to ask for some bread and 
wine. The woman came in haste with her daughter, who 
had consecrated herself to God, to render aid to the Saint. 
After Francis had recovered somewhat and strengthened 
himself, he in turn strengthened mother and daughter 
with the word of God. While he spoke, he did not 
once raise his eyes to their faces. When they had left, 
the companion remarked: “Brother, why hast thou not 
looked at this saintly virgin, since she came to thee with 
so great reverence?’ Francis replied: “Who should not 
fear to gaze upon the spouse of Christ? If one is to 
preach with eyes and mien, she should look at me and 
riotilsat her. 

His chaste reserve in regard to the female sex was 
prompted by his spirit of chivalry. As a true knight of 
Christ he was filled with a profound reverence for wom- 
ankind, and especially for those consecrated to Christ. He 
recommended this spirit of chivalry to his disciples in the 
form of the following allegory. A pious and powerful 
King sent to the Queen two messengers in succession. 
When the first messenger returned, he spoke only of 
the things connected with his embassy and said nothing 
about the Queen. He had wisely kept his eyes to himself, 
and had not once lifted them to look at the Queen. The 
other returned and after a few words began with great 
animation to speak of the beauty of the Queen. “Truly, 
my Lord, I have seen the most beautiful of women; 
happy he to whom she belongs!” Then said the King: 
“Thou wicked servant, who hast dared to lift thine impu- 
dent eyes to my spouse! It is clear that, by cunning, thou 
didst desire to obtain her thou didst gaze upon.” He then 
sent for the first one and asked him: “What is thy opinion 
of the Queen?” “The best of opinions, since she so 
willingly and patiently listened to me,” thus answered 
this wise man. Then said the King: “Thinkest thou 
she is beautiful?” He replied: “My Lord, her beauty is 


CHAS TERY AWN Di RENAN GE ett 


for thy gaze; I had but to repeat the words of thy mes- 
sage.’ Then the King passed this sentence: “Thou, be- 
cause thine eyes are chaste, shalt be in my chamber, 
chaste of body and a partaker of my delights; but this 
impudent one must be turned out of the house, that he 
may not pollute my chamber.” Francis added hereto the 
remark: “If one feels too secure, he guards himself less 
well against the enemy. Give the devil a hair, and he 
will soon make it grow into a beam. And if he succeeds 
not in conquering the tempted one for many years, he 
complains not, if only he yields in the end. That is 
truly his handicraft, at which he busies himself day and 
night 

It was this chaste and wise sentiment which prompted 
Francis to write the twelfth chapter of his first rule: 
“Let all the brothers, wherever they are or may go, care- 
fully avoid unbecoming looks and company of women, and 
let no one converse with them alone. Let the priests speak 
with them henestly, giving them penance or some spiritual 
counsel. And let no woman whatsoever be received to 
obedience by any brother, but spiritual counsel being 
given to her, let her do her penance where she wills. 
Let us all carefully watch over ourselves, and hold all 
our members in subjection, for the Lord says: 17 “Who- 
soever shali look on a woman to lust after her, hath 
already committed adultery with her in his heart.’ ” 18 
In the final rule the Saint gives the following injunction, 
under the direction, no doubt, of Cardinal Hugolino, who 
was well versed in the prevalent ecclesiastical law: “I 
strictly command all the brothers not to have suspicious 
intimacy or conferences with women, and let none enter 
the monasteries of nuns except those to whom special 
permission has been granted by the Apostolic See. And 
let them not be godfathers of men or women, that scandal 
may not arise on this account among the brothers or con- 
cerning the brothers.” 1? 

Even regarding the “Poor Ladies of San Damiano” 


212 SEHE EDERSBESIOE SER LER IN 


Francis commanded his brothers to observe the greatest 
reserve; yea, they were to be all the more cautious in 
their dealings with the Poor Clares, since they stood in 
closer relationship to the Friars as members of the same 
Order. The Saint charged only such Friars with the 
direction of the nuns, who had proved themselves fit 
for this office by a virtuous life, and who were reluctant 
to assume this burden.”” He punished without mercy 
those who made unnecessary visits to them,?! and he 
himself appeared very seldom and only for very weighty 
reasons in San Damiano.”” 

These severe measures, however, sprang in no wise 
from an exaggerated hatred of womankind or from a 
similar vagary, but were dictated solely by the Saint’s 
solicitude for his own virtue and that of others. The 
tender as well as holy friendships of Francis with Clare 
of Assisi and with Giacoma de Settesoli furnish abun- 
dant proof of this. 

Toward Clare his whole life was one of fatherly 
friendship in the full sense of the word. In this he 
was guided by the thought that the one and same spirit 
had led himself and his brothers on the one hand, and 
Clare and her daughters on the other from the world, 
and the same spirit should also underlie their mutual bond 
of love? When the Friars, therefore, showed surprise 
that he so seldom gave the handmaids of Christ the 
pleasure of his bodily presence, he replied: “Think not 
that I do not love them perfectly. If it were not allowed 
to love them in Christ, it were still more wrong to espouse 
them to Christ. Had I not called them to the religious 
life, I should have done them no wrong; but to leave 
them after I have called them, would be great cruelty. If 
I nevertheless rarely go to see them, I do it for the sake 
of example, that you may do as I have done.” ** 

In consequence of his visits to San Damiano becoming 
more and more rare, St. Clare was seized with anxiety 
lest her spiritual father should abandon her completely, 


CHAS DE TY. AND PEN ANGE 213 


and Francis thereupon wrote her the following lines: 
“Since, by divine inspiration, you have made yourselves 
daughters and handmaids of the most high Sovereign 
King, the heavenly Father, and have espoused yourselves 
to the Holy Ghost, choosing to live according to the per- 
fection of the Holy Gospel, I will, and I promise to have 
always, by myself and my brothers, a diligent care and 
special solicitude for you, as for them.” 7° He kept this 
promise faithfully until the end, and enjoined it most 
earnestly on the conscience of the Friars in the hour of 
death.?® 

The same strong and loyal friendship bound him to 
Giacoma de Settesoli. This noble and saintly Roman 
lady had merited the affectionate love of the Saint in 
consequence of her remarkable virtue and her bountiful 
charity toward the Order.” On her part she was devoted 
to the Saint with her whole heart until his death.?® Fran- 
cis therefore did not wish to pass from this life without 
having bidden her farewell. A few days before the end he 
had a letter sent to her, requesting her to come in all haste, 
and to take with her various articles for his last hours 
and for his burial. At the very moment when the mes- 
senger was about to depart for Rome, a commotion was 
heard before the house, and when the door was opened, 
Giacoma with her sons and a large retinue stood before 
the entrance. On hearing these tidings, Francis was 
overcome with joy, and he exclaimed: “Blessed be God, 
who has sent to us Lady Giacoma, our brother. Open 
the doors and lead her within, for the law forbidding 
women to enter the convent does not bind Brother Gia- 
coma.” The meeting of the two friends was exceedingly 
touching. Giacoma had brought with her the very articles 
which Francis had requested in his letter: candles, an 
ash-colored cloth to be used as a shroud, linen for his 
face, and a pillow for the bier. In her thoughtful love 
she had not even forgotten to take along with her the 
favorite dish of the Saint which she was wont to place 


214 92 EHE D ERAUSIO LESS SERIEN 


before him on his visits to Rome. Francis was strength- 
‘ened in such measure by this visit, that he seemed to take 
a new lease of life. Nevertheless he foretold to his bene- 
factress the day of his death, and requested of her the 
final act of charity of remaining until after his burial.” 

Truly, an exemplary regulation of the relation toward 
the other sex as becomes a Friar Minor! Exemplary 
the modest reserve, as well as the chivalrous reverence 
toward womanhood. Exemplary also the conscientious 
solicitude for the welfare of the souls entrusted to his 
care, as well as the grateful appreciation for the charity 
shown to him. And exemplary, above all, the unrelenting 
severity with which Francis charged his brothers to flee 
all improper or scandalous dealings with women, in order 
to anchor their innocence and purity firmly in God. 

2. To the avoidance of danger Francis joined the prac- 
tise of penance. 

The New Testament designates the entire Christian 
conception of life in general as penance, a life of pen- 
ance.®° Since the purpose of the Poverello was to lead 
back the entire world to a life based on Christian prin- 
ciples and Christian ideals, the Franciscan form of preach- 
ing and the Franciscan movement as such, was called, in 
brief, “the preaching of penance” and “the movement to 
penance.” °4 The Friars Minor themselves, who were 
the pioneers of this movement, styled themselves orig- 
inally “Brothers of Penance of Assisi.’ 32 And in his 
Testament, in which the Saint reviews the first days of 
his new life, he remarks: “The Lord gave me, Brother 
Francis, thus to begin to do penance.” 3? In conjunction 
herewith the entire life of poverty, humility, simplicity, 
chastity, which the brothers promised and practised, had 
all the elements of a life of penance. In fact, this life 
demands in a high degree the spirit of penance, and rep- 
resents its uninterrupted practise. 

Francis raised both to a degree truly heroic. From 
the first day on which he began to withdraw from the 


GIP AS EEE Y ANDPENANETFT 7275 


world, he imposed such severe penances upon himself that 
he was derided as a fool.24 When soon afterward he 
appeared before the Bishop of Assisi and divested him- 
self of his sumptuous garments, returning them to his 
father, Peter Bernardone, he wore on his body nothing 
but a hair-shirt.2° Later on, he fashioned for himself 
an exceedingly rough and poor garment, in order to cru- 
cify his flesh night and day.2® When on one occasion a 
soft garment was given him, he fastened some rough cords 
within; for, he said, according to the word of the Eternal 
Wisdom, one should not seek soft garments in the huts of 
the poor, but in the palaces of princes.?” Being asked 
how he could endure the severity of the winter’s cold in 
that poor clothing, he made answer in the fervor of his 
spirit: “If we burn within with a fervent desire for our 
heavenly country, easy it is to endure this exterior cold.” 38 
He spoke in this manner in order not to confess that he 
frequently almost perished with cold, finding so little pro- 
tection in his poor clothing. One day he was walking 
along the road during winter time in the face of a very 
cold wind. A sense of discouragement began to weigh 
him down, but as soon as he became conscious of this, he 
roused himself and went up into a mountain, and taking 
off his habit, he exposed himself thus to the cutting 
wind. He then said to himself: “How well would it be 
now to be clothed even in one tunic!” °° 

Even at night he retained his rough clothing. This, with 
a chain girdle, was his only protection against the cold 
night air. Never would he use a covering. His bed 
was the naked floor. His sleep was brief, and taken 
mostly in a sitting posture. His pillow was a stone or a 
block of wood, or at most a rolled-up sack.*° 

Not only in his clothing, but also in his food he exer- 
cised the utmost rigor, denying himself all that was not 
absolutely necessary to sustain life.*! His axiom in this 
regard was that it is hardly possible to satisfy the needs 
of the body without indulging the sensual appetite.** He 


210) |. DHPRUDIENTSTOEISHTHEERENIE HS 


spent the greater part of the year in rigorous fasting. At 
one time he fasted forty days, partaking of no food what- 
ever, in order thus to imitate the example of the Saviour. 
But toward the end of this fast he ate a half loaf of 
bread, lest he should boast of having fasted continuously 
as his divine Master had done.** 

Even outside the ordinary seasons of fast he was most 
abstemious both in regard to the amount and the quality 
of food. He would seldom eat cooked food, and, when 
doing so, he rendered it unpalatable by mixing into it 
water or ashes. Lest the brothers should ascribe this to 
a spirit of penance, he explained that Brother Water and 
Sister Ashes were chaste. He resorted to the most in- 
genious methods of this kind even when invited to dine 
with persons of note. But in order not to offend his host, 
and to follow the injunction of the Gospel to eat of all 
things placed before him,** he would eat sparingly of the 
meat and other delicacies, but hide the rest in the folds of 
his habit, continuing, however, to put his hand to his 
mouth, so that no one suspected what he was doing. He 
partook rarely and sparingly of wine; indeed, he would 
not even drink enough water to quench his burning 
thirst.*° 

To these mortifications he added others no less severe. 
He treated his poor body like a beast of burden, which 
must be continuously held in check. Brother Giles no 
doubt spoke the mind of the Saint when he said: “The 
body of the brother of penance is as a beast of burden. 
Although it may bear heavy burdens, and although he 
may feed it well withal, it will not, go along the road 
aright if it feels not the rod of correction.” #® Francis 
accordingly chastised his body with incredible severity, 
whether in good or ill health." He never spared it and 
treated it by word and deed as if it were his worst 
enemy.4® Whenever it dared to show signs of rebellion, 
whether from itself or by the instigation of Satan, it 
was made to suffer doubly. Thomas of Celano relates 


CHASTITYANDPENANCE _ 217 


the following incident, which he had heard from the 
mouth of a reliable eye-witness. 

Francis had exhausted his frail body one night in the 
hermitage at Sarziano by incessant prayer and penance. 
Suddenly the tempter cried out: “Francis, Francis, Fran- 
cis!” The latter replied: “What wishest thou?” And 
the Evil One gave answer: “There is no sinner in the 
whole world whom the Lord will not pardon if he but 
repent; but whoever destroys his life by severe penance, 
will not find mercy in eternity.” The Saint immediately 
detected the ruse of the enemy, who wished to seduce him 
to tepidity. Undaunted by the temporary failure, the 
tempter began to point out to him that he, Francis, was 
deceiving himself in depriving himself of the happiness of 
a home and family, and at the same time he painted the 
pleasures of married life in the most glowing colors. 
Francis, recognizing the hand of the tempter, took off his 
habit and began to scourge himself cruelly with the cord, 
saying: “Ah, Brother Ass, it behooves thee thus to feel 
the scourge. The habit belongs to the Order, this may not 
be stolen. But if thou desirest to run away, then run.” 
But although his whole body had been bruised by the 
scourge and bled freely, the temptation did not yield. 
Then, opening the door of his cell, Francis went out into 
the garden and plunged himself into a pile of snow. And 
gathering up the snow with his hands, he formed seven 
mounds or pillars of snow, and placing himself before 
them, he addressed his body thus: “Behold, this large 
pillar is thy wife; the next four are thy two sons and 
daughters ; the other two are thy servant and maid, whom 
thou needest for thy service. Hasten now to clothe them 
all; for they are dying with cold. But even if thou art 
burdened with manifold care in their behalf, yet must thou 
serve thy only Lord zealously.” Then the illusion 
vanished.*? 

This constant and merciless chastisement gradually 
brought his body to complete subjection under the soul. 


218° THE LI BABSTOLSTIT RS BERS 


The latter ruled over it as over a most willing servant. 
The soul henceforth was free to rise to the utmost heights 
—the body never again resisted; yea, it appeared to out- 
strip even the soul. The fire of his spirit had so lightened 
the body that it vied with the soul in thirsting for God, 
as the Scripture says: “For Thee my soul hath thirsted;; 
for Thee how mightily my flesh!’ 5° The daily and unin- 
terrupted habit of following the rule of the soul and of 
clinging to it most closely, became a necessity for the body, 
indeed, a second nature.°! 

In the two last years of his life, when the Lord Him- 
self put him througa the school of suffering, the heroism 
of the Saint reached the loftiest heights. Nailed to the 
cross with Christ by the sacred Stigmata, exhausted by 
incredibly painful maladies,°* he preserved not only his 
accustomed cheerfulness of soul, but he refused stead- 
fastly to grant his body ‘the least alleviation. In their love 
and anxiety, the brothers urged him to desist from his 
harsh treatment of his oody, yet he could not be brought 
to yield to their entreaties.5? Finally, one of the brothers 
prevailed upon him in this manner: “Tell me, Father,” 
he said, “has thy body, as long as it could, rendered zealous 
obedience to thy commands?” Francis replied: ‘Certainly, 
my son; this testimeny ! musi give to it, that it was 
obedient in all things, never spared itself, but on the con- 
trary hastened head over heeis as it were, to fulfil all 
commands. It shirked no labor, avoided «=o hardships, 
so long as it could follow my wishes. In this we have both 
been perfectly at one, to serve Christ without the least 
discord.” The brother then said: ‘Where then, Father, 
is thy benevolent heart, where thy sympathy, where thy 
most tender compassion? Is that the reward worthy of 
a true friend, to accept blessings and then in the time of 
need to refuse to repay the benefactor according to merit? 
What couldst thou have accomplished in the service of 
thy Lord Jesus Christ without the assistance of thy body? 
Has it not, as thou hast said, exposed itself to every 


CHASTITSZANDIBEEPAN PR 275 


danger?” “I confess, my son, this is very true,” replied 
Francis. The brother continued: “Is it, then, just that 
thou shouldst not succor such a true friend in this need, 
who has sacrificed himself and his own to death for thy 
sake? May that be far from thee, Father, thou joy and 
staff of the sorrowful, far from thee be such a sin before 
the Lord.” These words struck a responsive chord in the 
heart of the Saint. He looked with pity on his emaciated 
body, broken with pains and suffering and near death, 
and he said: “Rejoice, Brother Body, and forgive me; in 
future I shall willingly comply with thy wishes and lov- 
ingly listen to thy complaints.” °* His compassion with 
the loyal friend whom he had treated all his life as an 
enemy, was as genuine and sincere as his former severity. 
On the very day of his death he believed himself bound 
to an apology and confessed candidly that he had sinned 
greatly against Brother Body.®® 

Francis likewise trained hts disciples in the school of 
penance and mortification. He warned them not to seek 
the cause of their faults and imperfections outside them- 
selves, but to attribute them to their own flesh, which 
constantly militates against the spirit. “There are many,” 
he said, “who if they commit sin or suffer wrong, often 
blame their enemy or their neighbor. But this is not right, 
for each one has his enemy in his power—namely, the 
body by which he sins. Wherefore, blessed is that servant 
who always holds captive the enemy thus given into his 
power, and wisely guards himself from it; for so long 
as he acts thus, no other enemy, visible or invisible, can 
do him harm.” 5® 

The Saint accordingly urged his brothers constantly to 
watch over and guard both the interior and exterior 
senses.°’” A single example will suffice to illustrate the 
severity of the Saint in this regard. Toward the end of 
the year 1204, Emperor Otto IV, who had just received 
the imperial crown at Rome, passed through Assisi.5§ 
The cavalcade was journeying on the road which led close 


220. DHEIDERIUISIOF STIE RANGES 


by the hut at Rivo Torto, where Francis was then staying 
with his brothers. The crowds flocked together from all 
sides to view the German Emperor in all his magnificence, 
with his numerous and gorgeous retinue. Francis, how- 
ever, would not so much as set foot before the hut, nor 
would he allow any of the Friars to witness the glorious 
spectacle. One Friar, however, was sent by him to ac- 
company the cavalcade and to remind the Emperor con- 
tinuously of the vanity of earthly fame.®® 

The disciples of Francis, moreover, hardly stood in 
need of encouragement to the practise of penance: The 
example of their father alone sufficed to incite them to 
similar severity.°° The entire Franciscan school of those 
first days was animated by a spirit of penance so fervent 
that every Friar regarded it as highly improper to indulge 
in any bodily comfort whatsoever.®! Their entire mode of 
life was so severe, that the rhetorician Buoncompagno of 
Bologna, a contemporary of those days, writes: “The 
Friars Minor can in truth be numbered among the dis- 
ciples of the Lord, because they spurn all earthly lusts, 
torture their flesh, and follow Christ with unshod feet and 
a garb of penance.” ©’ Other eye-witnesses were seized 
with awe at the sight of this austere life of penance, and 
declared that only saints or fools could thus crucify them- 
selves.68 The Friars on their part were affected neither 
by the one nor the other opinion of the world, and per- 
severed steadfastly on the narrow and steep path of 
evangelical penance.®? 

Their clothing was so poor and coarse that it appeared 
to serve more for the torment than the protection of the 
body. In food and drink they restricted themselves to 
what was absolutely necessary to life, and whenever they 
perchance exceeded this measure because of great hunger 
or thirst, they abstained for several days from all food 
in punishment for their indulgence. After laboring ardu- 
ously the whole day, they spent a great part of the night 
in prayer and meditation. If sleep nevertheless demanded 


BAABPLIINTANDIEENIAN GN 0828 


its rights mercilessly, they resorted to various ingenious 
methods to keep themselves awake; they would often 
bind themselves to a hanging rope, lest they fall over 
from sheer exhaustion and thus disturb the others in their 
devotions. They spoke rarely and only what was strictly 
necessary. They would hardly hear or see even those 
things which could possibly not be avoided. All their 
senses and their entire exterior conduct were regulated in 
like manner by complete self-control. If they were mocked 
and jeered at, despoiled, scourged, shackled, imprisoned, 
persecuted in every way, they not only did not seek any 
defense, but praised and blessed God for the injury in- 
flicted on them. To this they added other chastisements, 
such as plunging themselves into icy water, or rolling 
themselves among sharp thorns until covered with blood. 
Many wore iron rings on their body, or carried girdles 
studded with wooden prongs, or resorted to similar instru- 
ments of torture in order to crucify Brother Body.® 
Some of the Friars would have rendered themselves ill 
by means of this excessive severity, or at least unfit for 
labor and prayer, if Francis had not prudently and firmly 
intervened.®® 

For the Saint forbade resolutely all such lack of moder- 
ation. “In this point alone,” remarks his biographer, “his 
example did not harmonize with his teaching.” 6” He 
himself treated his body with inhuman cruelty, because he 
thought that, on the one hand, he was a greater sinner 
than the others; and that, on the other, he was bound to 
do more in this regard than others.°® But for his brothers 
and for the Order itself, his conduct was not to be direc- 
tive. At public Chapter he therefore reprimanded those 
who exceeded the bounds of prudence in their vigils, in 
fasting and other practises of penance. He forbade this 
strictly, and commanded them to treat Brother Body 
mildly and sensibly.‘® 

In his private instructions he likewise admonished the 
brothers frequently to season their severity with prudence 


222" DH EIDEAES OT Sila eR A205 


‚and forbearance. “One must treat Brother Body with 
kindness,” he said, “lest a storm of rebellion break out 
on his part. One must not give him any reason to mur- 
mur, that he may not tire of watching and praying de- 
voutly. Otherwise he could complain: ‘I perish for hun- 
ger; I cannot bear the burden of thy good works.’ But 
if he has received sufficient nourishment and still shows 
signs of rebellion, then may he know that the lazy beast 
of burden deserves the spur and the idle ass the prod.” ”° 

Fortunately we are able to learn through Thomas of 
Eccleston and Thomas of Celano how lovingly Francis 
put these principles into practise. The former relates the 
following incident told him by Blessed Albert of Pisa 
himself. Brother Albert, later on Minister General (1239- 
1240), was at one time staying with the Saint at a hos- 
pital. To the arduous labor of caring for the sick, Albert 
joined a rigorous fast. Francis became aware of this and 
commanded him forthwith to eat henceforth a double 
amount of what he had hitherto taken. Brother Albert 
learned from this to care for his subjects in later years 
with the same kindness and discretion. He looked after 
the wants of the sick and delicate brothers with the love 
of a mother, and at one time sharply rebuked a guardian 
and his procurator, because they had not provided more 
abundant food on a festival day after the brothers had 
labored strenuously in the care of souls.” 

Thomas of Celano relates an even more touching inci- 
dent. Francis at one time had retired for the night with 
the brothers. In the middle of the night, while the others 
were sleeping, one of the Friars suddenly cried out: “I 
am dying, brothers, I am dying for hunger.” The good 
shepherd arose immediately and hastened to succor the 
poor hungry sheep. He had a table prepared with various 
homely delicacies, water taking the place of wine, which 
was often lacking. Francis was the first to begin eating, 
and urged the others to do likewise, lest the hungry 
brother be ashamed to eat. When the love feast was 


GHASTLTNZAND PEN CAEN GER 223 


finished, Francis spoke at length on the virtue of modera- 
tion in fasting as well as eating, in the care of the body 
as well as in its mortification. Every sacrifice, he said, 
which is offered to God, must be seasoned with the salt of 
prudence. Everyone must consider his own strength in 
the service of God. He even declared that ıt was just as 
sinful to exceed moderation in depriving the body of the 
necessary nourishment, as to surfeit it with superfluous 
food for the sake of indulging the appetite.”” The broth- 
ers were to follow prudence in all things as the guide of 
all virtues ; not that prudence, however, which is prompted 
by the flesh, but which Christ has taught, whose most holy 
life is the shining example of all perfection, 

That was the supreme norm of all his Ideals and espe- 
cially of penance: Jesus Christ, His life, His Gospel. This 
explains how judiciously Franciscan penance was tem- 
pered and softened by its characteristic msldness. We 
know that the Friars Minor had taken on themselves all 
the austerities of the evangelical life, and for this express 
reason were called “Brothers of Penance.” Yet it would 
be an easy matter to furnish the proof that the Franciscan 
Order nevertheless emphasized the spirit of mildness, 
which permeates the Gospel, more than the older monastic 
institutions. As points of comparison may be mentioned, 
in order not to digress too far, only two: corporal punish- 
ments and the precepts regarding food. 

None of the older monastic rules discard corporal chas- 
tisement ; that is, daily punishment of offenses by stripes, 
scourging, etc., on the part of the superior. The most 
severe chastisements were ordained by St. Columba (545- 
615). The more serious as well as trivial offenses were 
punished according to his rule with cudgeling. Whoever 
forgets to make the cross over the spoon before eating; 
omits the Amen after prayer; talks too loudly; speaks of 
himself ; excuses himself after a reprimand; coughs un- 
necessarily ; whoever makes himself guilty of a dozen such 
misdemeanors, is subject to chastisement. Everywhere 


3234.. THER DEALS OH S TIER AN GES 


blows are threatened, distributed and counted exactly, six, 
twelve, fifty, a hundred, so that the monk was hardly able 
with the best of intentions to finish a day with a whole 
hide.™4 It was because of this almost barbaric severity of 
the Columban rule, besides others, that from the seventh 
century the rule of St. Benedict (480-543) was introduced 
into most monasteries of the West. The cultured and re- 
fined Roman, Benedict, rescinded the merciless system 
of chastisement, but without relinquishing corporal punish- 
ment altogether. In the first place he ordains that the 
younger and unlettered inmates of the monastery, who 
lacked the proper understanding for other penances, should 
be punished for more serious offenses “either by extraor- 
dinary fasting or with sharp stripes.’’® The other 
monks are to be punished with stripes or scourging if 
previously punished without amending themselves.’® The 
statutes of the Cluniac reform (composed after 1123) 
still prescribe corporal chastisement of a very severe na- 
ture, at which the offending monk “according to ancient 
custom” was stripped and beaten with a sharp scourge.” 
Even the Dominicans retained the old custom of having 
the Religious who was guilty of more serious faults, 
beaten at public Chapter at the feet of each conventual.’® 

Such regulations are simply unthinkable in the Francis- 
can rule, so thoroughly is it permeated by the spirit of 
evangelical mildness. The entire penitential discipline of 
the Minorite rule is contained in the words: “If among 
the brothers, wherever they may be, there should be some 
brother who desires to live according to the flesh and not 
according to the spirit, let the brothers with whom he is, 
admonish, instruct and correct him humbly and diligently. 
And if after the third admonition he will not amend, let 
them as soon as possible send him, or make the matter 
known to his minister and servant, and let the minister 
and servant do with him what may seem to him most 
expedient before God. And let all the brothers, the min- 
isters and servants as well as the others, take care not to 





St. FRANCIS IN THE EMBRACE OF THE CRUCIFIED JESUS 





GHAS hI Dy AND PENA NG 22% 


be troubled or angered because of the fault or bad ex- 
ample of another, for the devil desires to corrupt many 
through the sin of one; but let them spiritually help him 
who has sinned, as best they can; for he that is whole 
needs not a physician, but he that is sick.’ *® Corporal 
chastisement is not even provided for those grave offenses 
which necessitate the ejection of the Friar from the 
Order. In these cases the sinning brother is simply di- 
rected to leave the Order and do penance in the world.®® 

Not only in regard to the discipline of penance, but 
also in regard to the regulations concerning food, Francis 
deviated essentially from the older Orders. He indeed 
prescribed, like other Founders, fasting for a great part 
of the year.?! Fasting was then understood to mean that 
the Friars ate but once a day, toward evening, and then 
only Lenten food.®2 

But while all other Orders forbade the use of meat even 
on days not of fast,®® Francis permitted it unreservedly 
on these days, within and without the monastery.®® In 
this he adhered simply to the injunction of Christ to the 
apostles: “Eat what is set before you.” ®° He ordains 
expressly in the third chapter of both rules: “According 
to the Holy Gospel, it is lawful to eat of all foods set 
before them.” 8° 

This innovation, unheard of in the history of monastic 
institutions, caused no little sensation. Even some of the 
Friars were of the opinion that the Saint had exceeded all 
bounds in his clemency. While Francis was absent on his 
mission to the Orient, in 1219, the two Vicars to whom 
the direction of the Order was entrusted meanwhile, as- 
sembled a number of Friars of like sentiment at a Chapter, 
and ordained that the Friars should henceforth no longer 
procure meat for themselves, but partake of it only when 
given by benefactors.8’ Francis received notice of this 
unauthorized encroachment on the constitution of the 
Order while he chanced to be sitting at table with Brother 
Peter Catanii before a dish of meat. “Well now, Sir 


226) To ER) Diba SO tS TIEHRAN GES 


Peter,” he said, “what is to be done?” The latter re- 
plied: “Ah, Sir Francis, whatever pleases thee, for thou 
hast the power.” In their mutual polite respect they al- 
ways addressed each other as lords. Francis did not hesi- 
tate long, but remarked gaily: “Let us, then, eat, according 
to the Gospel, what is set before us.” ®® 


CHAPTER XI 


FRANCISCAN JOY 


OT a virtue in the proper sense of the word, but 
| \ the fragrant aroma of all the virtues hitherto con- 

sidered, the everlasting spring-charm of Francis- 
can life, the bright golden atmosphere of the entire Fran- 
ciscan movement—that is, the joy of the Poverello and of 
his disciples. It is for this very reason the characteristic 
mark of the Franciscan Ideal, and forms the colorful 
setting on which this Ideal is mounted. 

1. Francis himself was by very nature gay and joyous, 
as the Three Companions attest.! He was in this a true 
son of his mother. Donna Pica, a child of the gay Prov- 
ence, rich in song and music, had endowed him with a 
heart so joyous that it could not be clouded even by_ the 
somber, calculating and mercenary spirit of his father, 
Peter Bernardone, Even the partnership in the paternal 
business failed to dampen his youthful gaiety. Though 
prudent and shrewd in commercial affairs, he retained his 
sunny disposition, “a youth full of the joy of life, merry, 
and devoted to mirth and song,” as the biographers de- 
clare.” 

The gaya sctensa, the “gay science” of the troubadours 
served even more to weave a sweet charm about his joy- 
ous conception of life. All great and small courts, all 
towns and cities of Italy, resounded at that time with the 
minstrel-songs and ballads of the troubadours and jon- 
gleurs, those knightly poets and bards. Francis himself 
provided his native town with a “court” of such joyous 
fellows. Clothed in the colored garb of a minstrel,? and 

227 


228.0 sbi LDIEAITSSO REST BER ZEN ales 


‚with a scepter in his hand, he passed as King of Youth 
from feast to feast in company with his friends,‘ at all 
places “the first in frolic, in mirth and song.” ® 

But through all his joviality there ran a strain of seri- 
ousness. His ambition was to become a knight, or per- 
chance a prince; and knighthood was not to be thought 
of without the gay doings of the troubadours. Wherever 
we read of knightly courts and tournaments, we meet also 
the knightly and courtly minstrels. The knights them- 
selves deemed it an honor to be as expert with the lyre 
as with the sword. Gaiety, in fact, seems to hold the first 
place among the qualities which become the knight.® “The 
newly invested knight must be gay,” is the injunction 
given in an instruction on knighthood; “for this is the 
handicraft of arms: great clamor in the field, and great 
joyfulness at home.”* Francis was so imbued with the 
truth of this axiom that he would not allow himself to be 
deprived of his gaiety even while a prisoner in bonds. 
During the entire time that he languished in captivity at 
Perugia with the knights of his native town, while all 
the others succumbed to discouragement and depression, 
he alone preserved his usual imperturbable cheerfulness.® 

This characteristic mood was not destroyed by his con- 
version to the knighthood of Christ, but was translated 
into the spiritual and supernatural realm and thus greatly 
ennobled and enhanced. At every step which he took in 
the realization of his new vocation, his biographers note 
an ever increasing joy of mind and heart. They relate 
the vision which presaged his spiritual knighthood for the 
first time, and add: “From that hour he was filled with 
such joy that he could no longer contain himself, but was 
forced to manifest his interior jubilation in the company 
of men.” ® They relate how he began to show his chival- 
rous love for God by rendering heroic charity toward the 
lepers; and_they emphasize the fact that in this, humanly 
speaking, loathsome and..disgusting occupation he ex- 
perienced an excessive sense of joy.!? They tell us how 


ERANGLSEANSTON 229 


his divine Liege Lord soon after made the nature of his 
spiritual knighthood clear to him, and remark that in con- 
sequence of this revelation an overpowering sense of 
heavenly bliss took possession of him.!! They describe, 
finally, how he appeared as a finished knight of Christ, 
singing spiritual ballads in the French tongue. At one 
time he was stopped by robbers, and when they asked who 
he was, he replied joyously: “I am the minstrel of the 
great King; what is it to your” The miscreants thereupon 
seized him, abused him roughly, and finally threw him into 
a ditch filled with snow, saying mockingly : “Lie there, thou 
boorish minstrel of God!” Francis, however, shook him- 
self free of the snow, climbed out of the ditch, and wan- 
dering through field and forest he began. with greatest 
joy to sing the praise of God.!? 

His entire life was henceforth attuned to this basic note 
of joy. Thomas of Celano assures us: “The Saint con- 
stantly endeavored to persevere in this gladness of heart, 
to keep ever fresh the unction of the spirit and the oil of 
joy. With utmost solicitude he avoided the greatest evil 
of ill-humor;... With imperturbable calmness and 
cheerfulness of ent he sang to himself and to God songs 
of joy in his heart.” 18 His ceaseless endeavor was to 
keep himself interiorly. and exteriorly i in a joyous mood." 
In the intimate circle of his brothers he likewise knew 
how to sound the pure key-note of joyfulness and to make 
it swell to such full harmony that they felt themselves 
raised to an almost heavenly atmosphere. The same joy- 
ful note pervaded the converse of the Saint with his fel- 
low-men. Even his sermons, in spite of their burden of 
penance, became hymns of gladness,!? and his mere ap- 
pearance was an occasion of festive joy for all classes 
of people.1® 

Joy transfigured even his constant weeping for the suf- 
ferings of the God-Man and for his, as he thought, count- 
less and grievous sins. Bonaventure points out this fea- 
ture in the character of the Saint in the words: “He never 





239°. SU EEE DIE APPS GE Ses de REN NG Tes 


ceased to clarify his soul in the rain of tears, aspiring 
after the purity of supernatural light and counting as 
little the loss of his bodily eyes. Yet though he shed 
streams of tears, he was filled with a certain heavenly 
joy, which gladdened his spirit and his countenance. In 
the stainlessness of his holy conscience he overflowed so 
with the oil of joy, that his spirit was constantly dissolved 
in God and he unceasingly rejoiced over the works of the 
Lord.” 17 Thomas of Celano relates how the interior 
melody and the sweet whisperings of the Holy Ghost in 
the soul of Francis would break forth in rapturous songs 
rendered in the French tongue,!® and he adds: “He would 
often take a piece of wood from the ground, as we have 
seen with our own eyes, lay it on his left arm, and hold- 
ing with his right another piece bent by means of a cord, 
would draw it across the wood as across a violin, making 
gestures at the same time (after the manner of the 
troubadours) and singing ballads in the French tongue 
to the Lord. At times this ecstasy of joy would turn into 
weeping, and the jubilation ended in piteous sighs for the 
passion of the Lord.” 19 

Joy assuaged and sanctified even his own sufferings and 
maladies. The Three Companions remark: “His heart 
rejoiced so much in the Lord, that his weakened and 
mortified body became strong enough to endure all hard 
and bitter things most joyously for God the Lord.” 7° 
Even when his sufferings grew to a veritable martyrdom 
he preserved his wonted smiling cheerfulness.?! 

Only once, at the approach of death, his usual cheerful- 
ness threatened to leave him. Tortured by unspeakable 
pains, he struggled one night in prayer for knightly forti- 
tude until the end. Suddenly he heard in spirit a consoling 
voice: “Rejoice, brother, and exult in thy weakness and 
tribulation, and trust so confidently as if thou wert al- 
ready in My kingdom.” The following morning his soul 
rose to the sublimest heights and composed that hymn of 
joy, the Canticle of the Sun,?? which “lets all natural joy 


FRANCISCAN JOY 231 


ı and all joys of nature and all supernatural joy of the 

believing and God-loving soul flow together and sends it 

as a crystal-clear, rapturous fountain toward heaven, into 
the ocean of divine glory and eternal bliss.” ** This 
\ Canticle of the Sun Francis requested the brothers to sing 
to himself again and again in those last days and nights.*4 
When Brother Elias remarked to him quietly that such a 
preparation for death might offend others, Francis an- 
swered smilingly: “Permit me, brother, to rejoice in the 
Lord and in His praise and my own infirmities, since by 
the grace of the Holy Ghost I am so united and joined 
to the Lord that by His mercy I well may rejoice greatly 
in Him.” 75 A few hours before his death he summoned 
all his remaining strength and intoned the One Hundred 
and Forty-second Psalm.* When he had finished, eve- 
ning had fallen, the day of his life had drawn to a close. 
Singing, he passed into eternity. 

The famous master Zurbaran (1598-1662) portrays the 
Saint meditating on a skull. Since then, Francis is seen 
so frequently in pictures and paintings with a skull, that 
the impression is given as if this representation were 
typically characteristic. And yet it is a travesty of the 
Saint, a simply impossible attitude, warranted neither by 
his life nor his death. His life was one hymn of joy, and 
to “Brother Death” he sang the last, most touching strophe 
of his Canticle of the Sun. He_was a virtuoso of joy- ° 
fulness, than whom history knows none more expert. 
Had history not called him the “Poor Man of Assisi,” 
he would have to be known as the “joyous” Francis. 

Francis impressed the same character of joy on hıs 
Order. The primitive Franciscan days were as a single 
melody full of spiritual joy. One becomes entranced in 
roaming through this paradise at the hand of the Fioretti, 
whose charming poetry is in this regard more historical 
than history itself could ever be. But also the oldest 
biographies and chronicles of the Order give proof that 
the Franciscan family lived constantly in a well-nigh 


232 TI. HEBD eA LAS IG) BIST ABIREAIN IS 


heavenly atmosphere of joy. This is so evident and so 
well known, that more need not be said. 

To one as familiar with the needs of spiritual life as 
Francis, it was clear that cheerfulness 1s indispensable to 
the Religious. He regarded it outright as the infallible 
remedy against the countless snares of the enemy.?” He 
was wont to say: “The devil_rejoices most when he can 
rob the servant of God of the joy of the spirit. Satan’s 
~ game is won when the heart is opened ever so little to 
allow him to inject a speck of dust with which to tarnish 
the candor of the mind and the purity of life. But as 
long as the heart is filled with spiritual joy, the serpent 
endeavors in vain to instil his deadly poison. The devils 
cannot harm the servant of Christ so long as they behold 
him filled with holy joy. But when the soul is in ill- 
humor, if discouraged and desolate, it easily becomes a 
prey to complete unhappiness or turns to vain pleasures.” 78 

The interior joy of the soul did not, however, suffice 
for the Saint. Huis brothers were to be joyous in their 
exterior appearance and conduct as well. One day he 
noticed that a companion showed a mournful and sad 
countenance. Francis rebuked him severely: “It behooves 
not a servant of God to show himself sad and ill-humored 
before men; he should, on the contrary, always be of 
good cheer. If thou hast sinned, go, and examine thyself 
in thy cell and weep over thy sin before God. But when 
thou_returnest to thy brothers, put aside thy sadness and 
be cheerful as the others.” 29 Turning to his brothers, he 
then added: “The enemies of man’s salvation envy me 
exceedingly, and since they cannot rob me of my 
cheerfulness, they endeavor constantly to disturb my 
brothers.” 30 

From the very beginning of the Order, Francis had 
therefore embodied cheerfulness in his program. Mind- 
ful of the admonition of the Gospel: “Be not, as the 
hypocrites, sad,” 3! he inserted these words in his first 
rule: “Let them take care not to appear exteriorly sad 


EFRANGISEANIOT 233 


and gloomy like hypocrites, but let them show themselves 
to be joyful and contented in the Lord, merry and becom- 
ingly courteous.” °* He considered this command so im- 
portant that he had it placarded at one of the General 
Chapters, so that it might give the entire assembly the 
character of joy.°® 

The Chapters of the Order were in fact feasts of joy 
and brotherliness, according to the eye-witness Jordan 
of Giano;°* yes, Cardinal Jacques de Vitry declares that 
the fostering of universal joyfulness was one of the main 
objects of the annual meetings of the Order.®® 


Not content with being joyful in the Lord themselves, —- 


the brothers were to be messengers and harbingers of joy 
for the whole world. The object of their apostolic ac- 
tivity was to promote and encourage true joy among the 
masses by word and song and example. Preaching and 
singing they were to pass through the world. With the 
Gospel of the “glad tidings” they were to sound the 
praises of the Lord as knightly troubadours.2® “For,” 
thus he declared on his death-bed, “what else are the 
Friars but_joyous minstrels of the Lord, who move and 
excite the hearts of men to spiritual joy?” 37 

2. We have considered the Franciscan spirit of joy as 
a fact. Let us now try to discover from the Saint also 
the secret of his joy. For, the problem still remains to 
trace the singular character and the deep-welled source of 
Franciscan joyfulness. 

In the first place, it is evident from the foregoing that 
there is no question of the talmi-gold of riotous or sensual 
pleasures. The Saint constantly recommended spirstual 
joy, the joy of the soul, and his zeal in fostering this joy 
was as ardent as his zeal in avoiding all unbecoming 
hilarity.35 As unbecoming he regarded not only that a 
Religious should find pleasure in earthly amusements and 
vanities,®® but also in vain and idle laughter and gossip. 
He, the lover of decorum and gravity, would not consider: 
such as true joy of the spirit, but as vanity and folly.*° 


234. ®DHEILDEDBESTOTISSUEER ANKER 


He strongly admonished his disciples: “Blessed is that 
Religious who feels no pleasure or joy save in most holy 
conversation and the works of the Lord, and who by 
these means leads men to the love of God in joy and 
gladness. And woe to that Religious who takes delight 
in idle and vain words and by this means provokes men 
to laughter.” #4 

Francis was, of course, not oblivious of the fact that 
man is composed of body and soul, and that the soul can- 
not rise freely and joyously to God if hindered by the 
body. We have already shown how discreetly and mildly 
the Saint judged of these things in spite of his rigorous 
penance, and how he often admonished the brothers to 
treat Brother Body kindly and show him mercy _in_all 
his needs, that he might thus willingly serve the soul.‘ 
It was truly Franciscan when the saintly Provincial, Peter 
of Teukesbury, remarked: “Three things are necessary 
to keep one in bodily health—food, sleep, and a joke,” 
and when he enjoined as a penance upon a brother of a 
melancholy disposition that he drink a tankard full of the 
best wine, saying to him: “My dear brother, if such a 
penance were given to you frequently, you would surely 
have a better conscience.” 43 

Francis himself would often resort to music and song 
in order to render soul and body cheerful. Thus, one day 
when the affliction of his eyes weighed heavily on him, he 
called to himself a companion, who had been a lute player 
in the world, and said: “Brother, I wish that thou go and 
borrow a lute in secret, and compose a song, and thus 
bring comfort to my Brother Body, who is full of pain.” 
The companion replied: “I fear much, Father, that the 
people might attribute this to levity on my part.” The 
Saint then answered: “Well, then, brother, be it so. It 
is good to omit many things, lest we give scandal.” But 
while the man of God was praying the following night and 
was rapt in God, suddenly there sounded in his ears the 
marvelously sweet melody of a lute. He saw no one, yet 


FRAN: Cals, EANATON 235 


he heard, now from this side, now from that, the music 
of a lute player as if he were walking to and fro. His 
spirit was filled with such heavenly joy because of this 
angelic music, that he thought himself already in the other 
world.** 

Music and song played, indeed, an important part in 
those primitive days of the Order.*? Religious song was 
fostered by Francis and his sons in all places and in all its 
forms: as choral, as hymn and prose, as unison and poly- 
phonic cantilena, as rhyme poetry in the Latin as well as 
in the vernacular tongue. That is one of the chief rea- 
sons why the Order appealed so strongly to that excep- 
tionally musical and poetic period: that explains why 
many a gifted troubadour joined the choir of the poor 
minstrels of God, and dedicated his muse, which had 
hitherto sung the praises of knightly adventure and love 
of fair lady, to the praise of Eternal Love and the sweet 
Virgin Mother. 

But this must be stressed constantly: Francis wished to 
cultivate the spiritual song for the sake of spirstual joy. 
He styled himself time and again the joyous minstrel of 
the Lord, and deplored deeply that musical instruments 
served any other purpose but to sound the praises of God.*® 
“Joyous minstrels of the Lord,” he styled his disciples, 
for this reason: that they had tuned the harp of the 
troubadour to the praise and the love of God.4* Thus, 
we read of Brother Juniper: “Brother Juniper was an 
excellent minstrel of the Lord, singing of the Lord fre- 
quently in burning words.’ 48 Thus, too, of Brother 
Giles: “This holy man was always cheerful and joyous. 
And when he spoke with someone of the words of the 
Lord, he was filled with wondrous joy; in his ineffable 
ecstasy he could then kiss straw and stones and do many 
such things from pure devotion. But when he found 
himself in such marvelous grace, it seemed bitter to him 
to turn away from God and to eating; he then wished to 
be able to live from the leaves of trees, lest he lose even 


>36. TH Ed DER Sh deena ley HEN HT 


for an hour the grace of conversing with God. When he 
finally returned to the brothers, he walked joyous and 
jubilant and praising God, saying: ‘No tongue can ex- 
press, no writing describe, and no heart of man perceive, 
what the good God has prepared for those who love 
Huang 

In a similar manner the joy of prayer, and prayer it- 
| self, became for Francis an overflowing fountain of joy- 
fulness. As soon as he noticed that a mere breath of 
sadness threatened to becloud the joyous candor of his 
soul, he turned quickly to prayer in order to regain his 
wonted cheerfulness.°° He also admonished his brothers 
to turn to God without delay whenever sadness began to 
weigh them down, saying: “If a servant of God, as it 
may easily happen, is sad for any reason, he must turn 
to prayer immediately and tarry before the face of the 
most high Father until He restores His salutary joyful- 
ness. For, if he remain longer in this sadness, this Baby- 
lonian [all disturbing evil] will increase, and, unless finally 
destroyed by tears [of prayer] it will leave in the soul a 
lasting harm.” *} 

We thus understand the essence of Franciscan joy and 
the source from which it springs. Francis and his brothers 
rejoiced in the greatness and the goodness of God, which 
is revealed in all His creatures and which becomes a soul- 
satisfying and living experience especially through the 
personal contact with God, by living under His eyes, and 
in_constant_conyerse with Him. Franciscan joy is the 
joy. in God, of God, and. from. Gad... 

Its second characteristic feature is joy of poverty. Ac- 
cording to the universal testimony of history, the Francis- 
cans were from the very beginning so unspeakably content 
and happy not only in spite of their poverty, but directly 
because of their poverty. The contemporaneous witnesses 
cannot speak of the poverty of Francis and his disciples 
without emphasizing constantly that in the retinue of 
J.ady Poverty cheerfulness occupied a prominent place. 


FRANCISCANJOY 237 


They relate how Francis dwelt near the poor little church 
of Portiuncula with the first three Friars in a wretched 
hut, and add: “These four dwelt together with unceasing 
jubilation and ineffable joy of the Holy Ghost.” °? They 
tell of the first missionary efforts of the Saint and his 
companions, and remark: “While they journeyed to the 
March of Ancona, they rejoiced exceedingly in the Lord; 
Blessed Francis, however, sang with a loud and clear voice 
songs of praise in the French tongue, blessing and glorify- 
ing the mercy of the Most High. They were filled with 
such joy as if they had found a great treasure in the 
possession of evangelical poverty, for love of which they 
despised as dung with a generous and joyous heart all 
earthly things.” °3 They stress the fact that the brothers 
were happy in the lack of all things save a poor habit 
with the cord and the breeches, and add the psychologically 
fine observation: “Since the disciples of most holy poverty 
possessed nothing and loved nothing, neither did they 
fear to lose anything.” °* They show furthermore how 
constantly new friends were attracted by the joyousness 
of the disciples of poverty,°® and how the latter also found 
the treasure of joyfulness in their utter despoilment: 
“They became exceedingly joyful because of their pov- 
erty, since they desired no riches, but despised all perish- 
able things. They rejoiced unceasingly in the Lord, 
because they had nothing, neither inwardly nor outwardly, 
by which they could have been grieved in any way.” °® 
They then afford us an insight into the intimate com- 
panionship of the brothers with Lady Poverty, and con- 
fess: “The brothers rejoiced inexpressibly, since they 
neither saw nor possessed anything which could have given 
them vain or carnal pleasure. They began thus to culti- 
vate bridal converse with Holy Poverty, and, filled with 
consolation because of the lack of all earthly things, they 
vowed to remain faithful to her in all places and for all 
times. And since they were comforted by divine con- 
solation only, free of all earthly care, they resolved not 


238» DPEEETDEAESIOTISARTERSA N CH 


to allow themselves to be weighed down by any tribulation, 
nor shaken by any temptation, nor torn away from the 
embraces of Lady Poverty by anything.” 57 

Promise and expectation found their fulfilment. “The 
espousals of the Order with poverty became in fact an 
unending marriage-feast amidst song and rejoicing.” °® 
Not only in Umbria and the surrounding provinces, the 
carefree home of the Order; in fact, in every place pov- 
erty and joy accompanied the Friars. We behold them 
in a short while passing through southern Tyrol across 
the Brenner into Austria, Germany and Hungary. Their 
constant companion is carefree and unburdened Joyous- 
ness. Even when forced to content themselves with a 
morsel of bread and a few turnips to save themselves 
from starvation, their hearty cheerfulness does not leave 
them.5® Similarly in England. It frequently happened 
that the first Friars sent thither by St. Francis had to 
satisfy both hunger and thirst with a soup made from 
the dregs of beer. Each would dip a cup into the pot and 
drink in turn, speaking some word of edification when 
his turn came, thus seasoning the mess with overflowing 
cheerfulness and hearty joy.® At all times these Friars 
were so joyful and merry amongst themselves that even 
when they were silent their countenances seemed to 
laugh.®*! 

This was exactly according to the heart of Francis. In 
spite of all poverty to sing joyously as the larks; joyously 
to labor for their daily bread; joyously to go in quest of 
alms; joyously to return from begging; ®* joyously to 
share the alms of Providence ®*—this he constantly recom- 
mended to his brothers. And, to express all in one word, 
he coined the motto: “Paupertas cum letitia—poverty with 
joyfulness.” 6 Whoever understands poverty as Francis 
did, as the voluntary renunciation of all earthly substance 
for love of God, with complete trust in Divine Providence, 
and in imitation of the poor Saviour, he gains through 


FRANCISCANJOY 230 


poverty an inexhaustible treasure of spiritual freedom, 
hearty contentment and supernatural happiness. 

A third feature of Franciscan joy is happiness in suffer- 
ing. That Francis was cheerful even in suffering and in 
spite of suffering, we have already seen.®? But that does 
not express all. He was joyous because of suffering; 
suffering itself became for him a source of joy. The 
sweetness of the cross of Christ was verified in his entire 
life of poverty, humility and penance. The Three Com- 
panions assert of him after his conversion: “His heart 
became so joyous in the Lord that his body, although 
weak and delicate, received strength to endure all hard 
and bitter things joyously for the Lord.” 6° The same is 
true of his first disciples: “In persecutions, hunger, thirst, 
cold and nakedness, they endured immeasurable trials and 
trıbulations. All this they suffered bravely and patiently, 
as they had been admonished by Blessed Francis. They 
never became sad or ill-natured, nor did they revile those 
who did them evil; but, as perfect and evangelical men, 
they rejoiced in it loudly in the Lord and regarded it as 
great joy when they could suffer these and similar 
things.” 7 

The life of Francis and of his disciples in the following 
years differed in no wise from the first. To suffer for 
Christ and for love of God was their joy most pure and 
mighty. The Saint himself has expressed it in wondrously 
charming manner in his conversation with Brother Leo “on 
perfect joy,” as related in the Fioretts. 

Once as St. Francis, with Brother Leo, went from 
Perugia to Saint Mary of the Angels in the winter, they 
suffered greatly from the severity of the cold, and St. 
Francis called to Brother Leo, who was walking a little 
in advance: “O Brother Leo, although the Friars Minor 
in these parts give a great example of sanctity and good 
edification, write it down and note it well that this is not 
perfect joy.” And having gone on a little farther, he 
called to him a second time: “O Brother Leo, even though 


249° SEHEN DER Seb as alae RING TS 


the Friars Minor should give sight to the blind, and loose 
the limbs of the paralyzed, and though they should cast 
out devils, and give hearing to the deaf, speech to the 
dumb, and the power of walking to the lame, and although 
— which is a greater thing than these—they should raise 
to life those who had been dead four days, write that in all 
this there is not perfect joy.” And going on a little while 
he cried aloud: “O Brother Leo, if the Friars Minor knew 
all languages and all the sciences and all the Scriptures, 
and if they could prophesy and reveal not only things in 
the future, but the secrets of consciences and of men’s 
souls, write that in all this there is not perfect joy.” 
Going still a little farther, St. Francis called aloud again: 
“O Brother Leo, thou little sheep of God, even though 
the Friars Minor spoke with the tongues of angels, and 
knew the courses of the stars, and the virtue of herbs, 
and though to them were revealed all the treasures of the 
earth, and they knew the virtues of birds and of fishes and 
of all animals and of men, of trees also and of stones and 
roots and waters, write that not in this is perfect joy.” 
And going yet a little while on the way, St. Francis called 
aloud: “O Brother Leo, even though the Friars Minor 
should preach so well that they should convert all the in- 
fidels to the Faith of Christ, write that herein is not per- 
fect joy.” 

And as he spoke in this manner during two good miles, 
Brother Leo in great astonishment asked of him and said: 
“Father, I pray thee, for God’s sake, tell me wherein is 
perfect joy.” And St. Francis replied to him: “When 
we Shall have come to Saint Mary of the Angels, soaked 
as we are with the rain and frozen with the cold, en- 
crusted with mud and afflicted with hunger, and shall 
knock at the door, if the porter should come and ask 
angrily, ‘Who are you?’ and we replying: ‘We are two of 
your brethren,’ he should say: “You speak falsely; you 
are two good-for-nothings, who go about the world steal- 
ing alms from the poor; go your way’; and if he would 


BHRANGLSICAN BON 241 


not open the door to us, but left us without, exposed till 
the night to the snow and the wind and the torrents of 
rain, in cold and hunger ; then, if we should bear so much 
abuse and cruelty and such a dismissal patiently, without 
disturbance and without murmuring at him, and should 
think humbly and charitably that this porter knew us 
truly, and that God would have him speak against us, O 
Brother Leo, write that this would be perfect joy. And 
if we should continue to knock, and he should come out in 
a rage and should drive us away as importunate villains, 
with rudeness and buffetings, saying: ‘Depart from this 
house, vile thieves; go to the poorhouse, for you shall 
neither eat nor be lodged here’; if we should sustain this 
with patience, and with joy, and with love, O Brother 
Leo, write that this would be perfect joy. And if con- 
strained by hunger, and the cold, and the night, we should 
knock again, and beg him with many tears, for the love 
of God, that he would open to us and let us in, and he 
should say still more angrily: “These are importunate 
rascals, I will pay them well for this as they deserve,’ 
and should come out furiously with a knotted stick and 
seize hold of us by our hoods and throw us to the earth, 
and roll us in the snow, and beat us all over our bodies; 
if we should bear all these things patiently and with joy, 
thinking of the pains of the blessed Christ, as that which 
we ought to bear for His love, O Brother Leo, write that 
it is in this that there is perfect joy. For, above all the 
graces and gifts of the Holy Spirit, which Christ has 
given to His friends, is that of conquering oneself, and 
suffering willingly for the love of Christ all pain and ill- 
usage.” 68 

If we now again seek the key to the secret of Franciscan 
joy, the answer is very simple. As the minstrels and trou- 
badours were the sunshine of knighthood, thus joyousness 
lent a sweet charm to the spiritual knighthood of St. 
Francis. As genuine Knight of Christ, Francis was inex- 


2A EHE EDIE A S20. SAE RIAN, Giles 


pressibly happy to serve his Liege, to follow Him in pov- 
erty and to be like unto Him in suffering; and this blissful 
happiness in the service, the imitation, and the suffering of 
Christ he announced as knightly Minstrel and Troubadour 
of God to the whole world. 


CHAPTER XII 


FRANCISCAN BROTHERLINESS 


HE joyfulness of Francis, his blissful happiness so 
firmly anchored in God, was in fact but a fruit and 
result of his extraordinary love of God. This love 

of God was by very necessity reflected as extraordinary 
love of men. The peculiar character of this extraordinary 
love for men consisted in his observing perfectly the in- 
junction of Christ: “All you are brethren.” 1 Franciscan 
brotherliness—this term perhaps expresses properly what 
is meant by his great love for his fellow-men. 

The members of older monastic institutions were called 
monks; it was only among themselves and in contrast to 
their superiors that they called themselves brothers. 
Francis does not know the term monk, monastic Order or 
rule, but replaces them with the name brother, brother- 
hood, Order of friars, rule of the friars.3 Any other 
title is prohibited. The office of the superior is suggested 
by the term “servant” (minister) or “guardian” (custos) ; 
but all, superiors as well as subjects, are to be called 
simply “brothers.” * We are told expressly in the first 
rule, that the Saint had the text quoted above, in mind 
when writing on brotherly love? The latter was, then, 
evidently to be characteristic of his brothers. 

He constantly held this Ideal of brotherly love before 
their eyes. Thomas of Celano assures us repeatedly: 
“The Blessed Francis admonished all to charity, kindness 
and brotherly affection. He said: ‘I desire that my 
brothers show themselves as sons of one mother, and if 
the one ask the other for a habit, a cord or anything 


243 


244% aH aD SBA ERS 3 @ HIST SER SETS 


else, it should be given him generously. Books and all 
things which one may wish, they should share with one 
another, or rather one should urge the other to accept it.’ 
. .. The constant desire and unceasing endeavor of the 
Saint was to preserve intact the bond of unity among the 
brothers, in order that those whom the same spirit had 
called, and the same father had begotten, should be nur- 
tured peaceably in the bosom of the same mother. The 
superiors were to be one with the subjects; by brotherly 
affection the learned should be united to the simple; the 
present were to be joined to the absent by the bond of 
love.” ® With Poverty he greeted Love as the mistress of 
the Order, and the conviction was rooted firmly in his 
mind, that love not only beautifies the companionship of 
the brothers, but also affords a most powerful protection 
for the spiritual welfare of each.’ 

In accordance with this, he established the fostering of 
brotherly love in various parts of his rule as law. “Let 
the brothers willingly serve and obey each other in the spirit 
of charity... . And let them love one another, as the 
Lord says:® ‘This is My commandment, that you love one 
another, as I have loved you.’ And let them show their 
love by the works they do for each other, according as the 
Apostle says:® ‘Let us not love in word or in tongue, 
but in deed and in truth.’ . . . And wherever the brothers 
are and in whatsoever place they may find themselves, 
let_them spiritually and_diligently show reverence and 
honor toward one another without murmuring. . . . And 
wheresoever the brothers are and may find themselves, let 
them mutually show among themselves that they are of 
one household. And let one make known his needs with 
confidence to the other; for, if a mother nourishes and 
loves her carnal son, how much more earnestly ought one 
.. to love and nourish his spiritual brother !” 1° 

Francis consequently regarded his disciples as united 
by the bond of such tender and cordial love, that the entire 
Order was thereby fused into one family. In thoughts, 


FRANCISCANBROTHERLINESS 245 


words and actions, inwardly and outwardly, whether near 
and known intimately or absent and unknown, all were to 
show one another genuine brotherly love. Yea, more 
than brotherly love: a mother’s love, not indeed of the 
carnal order, but a much higher and sublimer, a spiritual 
motherly and filial love. The superiors, above all, were 
to take the place of father and mother in regard to their 
subjects, as the Saint repeatedly declares." 

Francis, in consequence, reproved in the most. severe 
terms every violation of brotherly love: “Let not any 
brother do evil or speak evil to another . . . And let all 
the brothers take care not to calumniate anyone, nor to 
contend in words; let them indeed study to maintain 
silence as far as God gives them grace. Let them also not 
dispute among themselves or with others, but let them be 
ready to answer with humility, saying: “We are unprofit- 
able servants.’!? And let them not be angry, for ‘who- 
soever is angry with his brother shall be in danger of the 
judgment. And whosoever shall say to his brother ‘Raca,’ 
shall be in danger of the council. And whosoever shall 
say “Thou fool,’ shall be in danger of hell fire’ 1?... 
Let them not judge and not condemn, and, as the Lord 
says,!* let them not pay _attention to the least sins of 
others, but rather let them recount their own in the bitter- 
ness of their soul.” 1° He also warned them against the 
vice so destructive of charity, against jealousy of the 
superior gifts and greater success of others: “Whosoever 
envies his brother on account of the good which the Lord 
says or does in him, commits a sin akin to. blasphemy, 
because he envies the Most High Himself, who says and 
does all that is good.” 16 | 

The Saint had a pronounced loathing for those who 
touched the honor and good name of a brother. He de- 
clared that they had poison on their tongues, and with it 
infected others.” Thomas of Celano assures us as eye- 
witness, that Francis avoided whisperers and detractors, 
“these vicious fleas,” wherever he could, and that he 


246 et HE UDI AW SO Re Sab BR ZEN 


turned away from them as soon as they began to speak.!? 
At one time he heard of a brother having slandered an- 
other, and turning to his Vicar, Peter Catanii, he uttered 
the terrible words: “The Order is threatened by a crisis 
if the detractors are not checked. Very soon the good 
name of many brothers will be sullied if the mouth of 
these slanderers is not stuffed. Rise, rise, examine care- 
fully, and if thou find an accused brother as innocent, then 
inflict on the accuser a hard and public punishment. Give 
him into the hands of the Florentine pugilist”—thus he 
called Brother John of Florence, a man of gigantic 
stature and immense strength— “if thou canst not punish 
him thyself. Thou shalt see to it most diligently, thou 
and all the ministers, that this pest spread no farther.” }® 

On several occasions Francis commanded the one who 
had defamed the good name of his brother to be robbed of 
his hood, and declared him to be unworthy to raise even 
his eyes to God until he repaired the injury done. In 
consequence of this, the brothers at that time declared a 
relentless war on detraction and slander, and endeavored 
to avoid strenuously all that might injure the good name 
of another, or whatever might detract from his reputa- 
tion.*° Francis confirmed them in this endeavor by stig- 
matizing the slanderers in these severe words: “The 
slanderer says to himself: ‘Perfection of life I have none; 
neither does my ability suffice for science or special grace, 
and thus I have honor neither with God nor with men. I 
know what I will do: I will repute dishonor to the elect, 
and thus curry favor with the superior. I know that my 
superior is also human and acts at times as I do, and if 
we thus succeed in felling the cedars, then they will see 
in the woods only us, the underbrush.’ Yes, thou miser- 
able one, fatten thyself on human flesh, and since thou 
canst not live otherwise, gnaw the bowels of thy brothers! 
Such men strive to appear good, not to become good; 
they reprove vices, but do not put them aside themselves. 
They praise only those by whose power they hope to be 


PRANGISCAN BROTHEREENES S¥247 


favored; where praise does not promise to reflect on the 
flatterer, they are silent. Even their pale fasting mien 
they parade for the sake of pernicious praise, in order 
to be considered as spiritual men; they judge all things, 
but will not be judged by others. They desire to be 
saints in opinion only, not in fact; angels in name only, 
not in deed.” 7? 

From the above we may conclude that the Ideal of 
brotherliness such as Francis conceived, was not always 
realized. Where there are human beings, there are human 
frailties. Yet, though exceptions were found at all times, 
the Franciscan family as such was always distinguished 
for sts most cordial and happy brotherliness. Although 
the members of this immense fraternity were gathered 
from all parts of the globe, yet they were raised up to one 
temple of the Holy Ghost by the cementing bond of love. 
Indescribable was their mutual love and cordiality. When 
dwelling together, they vied with one another in loving 
friendship and friendliness, each one seeking only how he 
might gladden the heart of the other. No privation was 
then able to disturb their joyousness; the thought of 
future separation alone burdened their heart. When the 
moment of leave-taking arrived, they became inconsolable, 
and their only solace was to accompany the departing 
Friars for a long way, saying farewell with many tears. 
If they chanced to meet one another on their journeys, 
whether known to one another or not, that day was for 
them always a feast day. They greeted each other with 
the word of peace and the kiss of brotherhood, conversed 
with each other merrily, and shared with each other what- 
ever they chanced to have. If obedience again led them 
back to the monastery, the occasion became a happy re- 
union between brothers, a joyous return of sons to their 
parents. They loved and served and cherished one another 
as tenderly as only a mother can love and serve her only 
beloved child.?* All lived for one and each one for all in 
such wise that no particular love was allowed to arise to 


248 2 "IIHEIITDBABSIOBE SITE ERLITT 


destroy the mutual harmony of the family, and that each 
one was willing to sacrifice himself for his brother. “So 
greatly did charity glow in them,” attest the Three Com- 
panions, “that it seemed an easy matter for them to endure 
death not only for love of Christ, but also for the bodily 
or spiritual welfare of their brothers.” 2? On one occa- 
sion two Friars were journeying together. Suddenly 
they encountered a demented young man who in his rage 
began to cast stones at one of the Friars. Without hesi- 
tation one sprang forward in order to let himself be stoned 
in place of his brother.*4 

So great was the solicitude of the Friars to preserve 
mutual charity, that for every violation of brotherly love 
they punished themselves severely. It happened that a 
certain Friar, Brother Barbarus, made use of injurious 
words to another Friar. When he perceived that this 
Friar was troubled thereby, the offender was seized with 
a strong desire to punish himself, and picking up the dung 
of an ass, he put it into his mouth, saying: “Let the 
tongue that turned the poison of its anger on my brother 
eat dung!” *> If but a word of anger or impatience 
escaped them, they remained unhappy until they had con- 
fessed their fault and performed penance for it. The 
offending Friar would cast himself quickly on the ground, 
confess his fault and beg the other to place his foot on 
the offending mouth. Remonstrance availed nothing. If 
the offender was a subject, he requested the superior to 
command his punishment; if a superior himself, he com- 
manded the offended one to execute the sentence.”° 

The superiors were, in fact, the most zealous promoters 
of brotherliness, as Francis had wished and commanded. 
Franciscan history tells of many touching incidents of 
this kind. Mention may be made of only a few. Brother 
John de Pian di Carpine, Minister Provincial of Germany, 
Bohemia, Hungary, Poland and Norway, “cherished and 
guided all his brothers so peaceably, tenderly and de- 


PRAN CAS CAN BROTHERIGINES'S ‘249 


votedly as a mother her sons and as a hen cherishes and 
guides her brood.” ** Brother Stephen, the first guardian 
of Salisbury, “was a man of great sweetness and cheer- 
fulness and of exceeding charity and compassion, so that 
he could not behold anyone sad.” “8 One day two Friars 
stopped at an English convent, hot and thirsty from their 
long journey. Nothing to drink could be found in the 
house but water, and the poverty was so great that they 
lacked even the means of purchasing anything. Finally, 
the compassionate superior succeeded in obtaining a pot 
of beer. This was passed first to the guests, and then 
to the other Friars, but the latter placed only their lips 
to the pot without drinking, in order that the travelers 
might have plenty and yet not be ashamed to drink 
alone.’ *® 

With similar tenderness St. Clare was concerned for 
the bodily as well as for the spiritual welfare of her 
daughters. During cold winter nights she would often 
make the rounds in the dormitory in order to look after 
the comfort of the Sisters and to arrange their covering 
with her own hands. As great as her zeal was for the 
common observance of the rule and of discipline, no less 
great was her loving solicitude for those whose infirmities 
demanded exemptions from the severity of the rule. 
Whenever she beheld a Sister burdened with temptations 
or sorrow, she would call her to herself and comfort her 
with tears of compassion. At times she would cast her- 
self at the feet of the afflicted Sister and soothe her sor- 
row with motherly caresses.®° The result of her example 
was such perfect unity and harmony among the Poor 
Ladies, that all seemed to have but one soul and one will, 
although at times forty or fifty of them lived together.?! 

The most splendid example of brotherly love was given, 
however, by Francis himself. The various expressions 
and precepts of the Saint on the fostering of brotherly 
love as quoted above, afford abundant proof of this; they 


250 THEIDEALSOFST.FRANCIS 


are but the echo of his own personal and practical charity. 
He was, in fact, as an elder brother to all, or rather as 
father and mother to them in God. With what cordiality 
he received each brother, guided him and cared for him! 3? 
How keenly he suffered when he had to send them out 
on a mission; how tenderly he embraced them and recom- 
mended the departing Friars to Divine Providence! ** 
How he longed for the day of their return; how joyfully 
he praised the Most High when all returned safely, and 
what a joyous feast to him were the moments of their 
renewed companionship! %4 How friendly and yet how 
courteous were his speech and manner! How prudently 
he knew how to adapt himself to the learning, the cus- 
toms and the state of each! How openly sincere his look, 
how tender his words, how joyous his mien, how lovable 
his entire conduct! ®? 

He never failed to give expression to his affection for 
all by rendering every possible aid and by serving the 
brothers whenever occasion offered itself. We remember 
how he had the table set for the hungry brother in the 
middle of the night and shared the meal with him, lest the 
poor Friar be ashamed to eat.2® Every wish of his 
brothers was for him a command which he sought to 
fulfil without delay. One day two Friars arrived from 
France, whose most ardent desire had always been to 
behold the Saint with their own eyes. Their joy was all 
the greater when Francis embraced them with fatherly 
affection and spoke most kindly to them. Finally, one 
of the guests ventured to ask the Saint for his habit. 
Francis forthwith took it off and gave it to the bold peti- 
tioner, taking in exchange the much poorer one of the 
latter. Thomas of Celano remarks hereto: “Not only 
these and similar things, but everything which was asked 
of him he gave most joyfully; indeed, he was ever willing 
to give himself for love.” 37 

Not content with devoting his strength, his time, his 


ERANGISECHNEBEROTHBRBENES Scant 


heart, yea, himself to his brothers, he devoted to them 
also his ceaseless prayers. Thomas of Celano expressed 
this in his inimitably beautiful manner: “Who could 
ever describe the solicitude of Francis for his brothers? 
Constantly he held his hands raised to heaven for the true 
children of Israel, and often he forgot himself to think 
first of the welfare of his children. Prostrate at the feet 
of the Divine Majesty in adoration, he offered the sac- 
rifice of his spirit for his sons, in order thus to draw down 
God’s blessings upon them. His perfect love for the little 
flock which he had drawn after himself never left him 
without fear that they might lose heaven, after having 
renounced the world. He feared that he should not attain 
to glory himself if he should not lead those to glory who 
were entrusted to him, those whom his spirit had brought 
forth with greater travail than the maternal womb.” 38 

When finally God was calling him to eternal glory, one 
thing only saddened his heart: the farewell from his 
brothers. He called all present to himself, encouraged 
them to steadfastness and perseverance in their vocation, 
and blessed them, placing his hand on each. It caused 
him great anguish that he could not see all the brothers 
for the last time, and so he blessed also the absent ones, 
those who then belonged to the Order as well as those who 
were to follow in his footsteps in the ages to come.8® He 
then remembered that the Saviour had celebrated a love- 
feast with His disciples before His death. In this Francis 
also wished to become like to Him. He asked bread to 
be brought, blessed it, broke it, and gave to each weeping 
brother a piece. It was the symbol and the pledge of his 
tender and lasting love as their father and brother.4° Thus 
the word of the Gospel also became true of him: “Having 
loved His own who were in the world, He loved them unto 
ihesend.222 

We might properly conclude here, having seen how ex- 
emplary was the love which Francis bore all his sons. But 


252 & THELUDIBEATSSCORRSIIT EINEN ES 


it remains to point out that Francis showed a peculiar pre- 
dilection for the sick, the sorrowful, and the erring 
brothers. 

For the sick brothers he always evinced a tender com- _ 
passion and loving solicitude.** It is touching to see how 
attentively, unselfishly and lovingly he cared for them. 
Although suffering at times greater afflictions than others, 
his last thought was always for himself. If kind friends 
offered him more delicate and substantial food, he dis- 
tributed it among the sick, though he himself was in 
greater need of it than they. Even in days of better 
health he would break his fast so that the sick would not 
hesitate to eat with him. Indeed, he was not ashamed 
to beg openly in the streets, even during a season of fast, 
and to the great wonderment of the people, that the sick 
might have more strengthening food.4? He had the lov- 
able faculty of reading the wishes of others from their 
eyes, and he strove to fuifil these wishes without revealing 
that it was a hardship for himself. One day he noticed 
that a sick brother had a great desire for grapes, but did 
not venture to express his wish; for the Friars at that 
time were very rigorous toward themselves whether in 
good or ill health. Francis led the Friar to a neighboring 
vineyard and sat down with him by a vine richly laden 
with luscious grapes. He then began to eat the grapes, in 
order that this Friar should not be ashamed to eat alone. 
And all the days of his life this Friar would tell, with 
tears in his eyes, of the loving pity and compassion of the 
Blessed Father, and relate what happened on this occa- 
sion.** If Francis found himself unable to relieve the 
needs of a sick brother, he manifested his sincere and 
deep compassion; in fact, he felt the sufferings of the 
afflicted brothers as keenly as if they were his own.*® 

So anxious was the Saint to provide for the care of the 
sick brethren, that he enjoined the greatest solicitude for 
them in his rules. In the first years it was very difficult, 


FRANCISCANBROTHERLINESS 253 


on account of the migratory life of the Friars, to find a 
proper home for the sick and to give them the necessary 
care. The Saint therefore prescribed in his first rule: 
“If any of the brothers fall into sickness, wherever he 
may be, let the others not leave him, unless one of the 
brothers, or more if it be necessary, be appointed to serve 
him as they would wish to be served themselves; but in 
urgent necessity they may commit him to some person 
who will take care of him in his infirmity.” *% In the mean- 
time, conditions had undergone a change. The Friars had 
settled in houses, and in each house the best cell was re- 
served for the sick. For this reason Francis had but to 
repeat in his final rule: “If any one of them should fall 
into illness, the other brothers must serve him as they 
would wish to be served themselves.” 47 Similar precepts 
were given to the Second Order. In consideration of their 
great severity, he admonished the Poor Ladies to partake 
joyfully and gratefully of the alms tendered them, in 
order to protect themselves against illness.48 Whenever 
the condition of the Sisters demanded it, any kind of food 
was to be given them—although they otherwise never ate 
meat—even if it could be obtained only with great 
difficulty.*? 

Notwithstanding his loving solicitude for the bodily wel- 
fare of his sons and daughters, Francis nevertheless ad- 
monished them to be ever mindful of their calling to the 
Knighthood of the Cross and to the service of the Cruci- 
fied Saviour, He reminded the Poor Clares, the sick as 
well as those who were charged with their care, to give 
at all times an example of patience.°° The same admoni- 
tion is given to his brothers in the final rule! In the 
more explicit rule of 1221 we read: “I ask the sick 
brother that he give thanks to the Creator for all things, 
and that he desire to be as God wills him to be, whether 
sick or well; for all whom the Lord has predestined to 
eternal life®* are disciplined by the rod of afflictions 


254. © EL. HEIL DERELESOESTIUR ADS 


and infirmities, and the spirit of compunction; as the Lord 
says: °8 ‘Such as I love, I rebuke and chastise.’ If, how- 
ever, he be disquieted and angry, either against God or 
against the brothers, or perhaps eagerly ask for remedies, 
desiring too much to deliver his body which is soon to 
die, which is an enemy to the soul, this comes to him 
from evil and he is carnal, and seems not to be of the 
brothers, because he loves his body more than his soul.” °* 

Francis himself gave in his many sufferings the most 
splendid example of patience and resignation, of unselfish- 
ness and gratitude. Obedience alone could prevail upon 
him to accept the attentions and the care which his illness 
demanded.®> He bore the most excruciating pains with 
sublime calmness and joyousness of mind.°® So great 
was his anxiety that he was becoming a burden to his 
brothers, that he felt himself bound to ask their pardon 
whenever they rendered him a service. He feared that 
they might become discouraged for devoting so much of 
their time and labors in his behalf, instead of using their 
time for their own prayers and labors, and he consoled 
them in these words: “My best beloved brothers and 
little children, do not get wearied of your labors because 
of my infirmities, since the Lord for love of me, His 
little servant, will restore to you all the fruit of your 
works, at this time and in the future, which you cannot 
now do because of my illness—indeed, you shall have a 
greater reward than you could gain for yourselves, since 
He who helps me aids all the Order and life of the 
Friars, and you can say of this, ‘Whereas we spend our- 
selves upon you and for you, the Lord will hold Himself 
our debtor. 2.37 

Still greater sympathy was manifested by the Saint to- 
ward the brothers afflicted in mind. Although the Friars 
breathed the atmosphere of almost constant joy, they were 
not spared trials and storms, either sent by God, or temp- 
tations caused by the evil spirit, or tribulations arising 


PICA NCS CAINE BEC Os RUE Wars S 255 


from their own nature. Francis well knew the torture 
of such sufferings,°® and could fully sympathize with those 
afflicted in like manner. On the other hand, he well knew 
the importance, yea, the necessity of temptations and trials 
for the furtherance of spiritual life; and of this he con- 
stantly sought to convince his brothers. On one occasion 
he replied to a Friar who was sorely tried by a grievous 
temptation and who had recommended himself to the 
prayers of the Saint: “Believe me, my son, that I only 
now regard thee as a servant of God, because thou art 
tempted; and the more grievous the temptation becomes, 
the more be thou assured of my love,” And he explained 
this further, saying: “Truly, I say to thee, no one can 
consider himself a servant of God, unless he has endured 
temptations and trials. A temptation conquered is, as it 
were, a ring by means of which the Lord espouses to Him- 
self the soul of His servant. Many are joyful because 
they have gathered merits for many years and have never 
suffered temptations. Let them know that God has had 
compassion for their weakness, well knowing that they 
would succumb before the battle for sheer fright. Him 
_ only does the Lord place in the struggle, in whom He 
' finds well-tried virtue.” 59 

Whenever he uttered such words of encouragement, he 
spoke with so tender a voice and so compassionate a heart, 
that it usually sufficed to instil new courage into the heart 
of the afflicted one. He, in truth, became sad with the 
sorrowful and afflicted with the suffering, and in conse- 
quence he consoled the Friars with such touching words 
that the temptation and sadness immediately vanished.®° 

No wonder, then, that the Friars placed unbounded 
confidence in him and never despaired of finding solace 
and help when turning to their Father. In times of 
severe temptations they cast themselves at his feet, re- 
vealed to him their most secret needs, and, having received 
his blessing, departed again with peace in their hearts.®! 


258 TyEVERoD DAI SOE Sal BR AZVEN DS 


The mere thought that they stood in the good graces of 
their Father, sufficed to pour soothing balm on their 
troubled hearts ; while, on the other hand, the fear to have 
incurred his displeasure, caused them acute anguish. 
Brother Rizzerio, “noble by birth, but nobler by virtue,” 
as Celano says, was firmly convinced that he stood in the 
good or ill favor of God accordingly as he stood in the 
good or ill favor of the Saint. And since he deemed him- 
self unworthy of the former, he became tormented by 
grave fears. Francis, to whom the sore plight of the 
Friar was made known by God, called him to himself and 
said with motherly affection: “Let not this temptation 
trouble thee, my son, nor this doubt embitter thee; for 
thou art very dear to me and canst be assured that among 
all my beloved ones thou art worthy of my particular 
esteem and friendship. Come to me whenever thou wilt, 
and avail thyself without fear of this friendship.” Riz- 
zerio was speechless with joy, and from that moment was 
filled with a confidence in God as strong as his confidence 
in his fatherly friend. 

Francis, however, was not content with manifesting his 
solicitude in mere words. Night and day he was at the 
service of every afflicted brother and ready to fulfil their 
slightest wish. At one time Brother Leo, tormented in 
spirit by a grievous temptation, requested the Saint to 
write down a few devout words, that he might regain at 
all times his wonted cheerfulness of mind. The Saint 
told him to fetch paper and ink without delay, wrote 
a few lines to the praise of God and also a short formula 
of blessing, and gave this precious relic to Brother Leo, 
who preserved it as a priceless treasure all the days of 
his life, constantly finding therein joy and consolation. 
Another Friar, living at Lago Fucino, exclaimed at one 
time with childlike simplicity while laboring under a sore 
trial: “If I had with me only a piece of the fingernails 
of the blessed Father, I believe this storm of temptation 


Pek AON CTS © ARNT BRIO EE: BSR BE TaN ES S257 


would vanish and with the help of the Lord peace would 
return to me!” He hastened to Rieti, where Francis was 
lying ill at the time, and made known his naive request to 
another Friar. The latter, however, replied: “I fear I 
shall not be able to give thee a piece of his nails, for he 
commands us to throw away the parings, and will not 
allow us to save them.” He had hardly spoken these 
words when the Saint called him to his bedside and asked 
him to cut his nails, and then gave the parings to the 
tempted Friar, who immediately regained his peace of 
mind.s? 

What we admire in Francis in this as in all other things | 
is: his loving attentiveness to all forms of suffering, 
and his constant readiness to help the afflicted ones wher- | 
ever and whenever he could. In this he remained true 
to himself to his very end. We have already seen how | 
tenderly he strove to console all the Friars in his last 
days. One of them especially was seized with almost 
uncontrollable sadness, Brother Leo, who had been closest 
to him as his confessor and constant companion. In his 
desire to console him, Francis bequeathed to him his habit, 
the only article of which he could dispose. “I give thee 
this habit,” he said; “accept it, it shall henceforth be thine. 
As long as I live, I shall wear it; after my death it shall 
belong to thee.” ®° His next thought was for his bereaved 
daughters at San Damiano. Unable to speak words of 
encouragement to them personally, he dictated to them 
words of solace and edification, and added to this some 
words set to a melody, with the wish that the Sisters sing 
it for their own consolation and for the praise of God.‘® 

Most deeply, however, did Francis sympathize with the 
misfortune of the erring brothers. Great as was the joy 
he experienced because of his loyal and perfect disciples,®* 
so keen was his compassion for those who succumbed in 
time of temptation, or even became untrue to their voca- 
tion. He was indeed most vigilant in regard to the faults 


258 © SHE LD aL SoG I SRIECH RN EI 


of his subjects. He reproved every violation of the rule 
or discipline, punished the stubborn and rebellious Friars 
with due severity,°®® and uttered his woe over those 
brothers especially who by their evil example caused 
scandal to others.®® Yet he at all times joined inexhaust- 
ible patience and kindness to his words of warning and 
reproof.” 

It is remarkable how frequently and earnestly he stresses 
kindness and charity. In the older rule he gives the fol- 
lowing directions regarding the correction of erring 
brothers: “If among the brothers, wherever they may be, 
there should be some brother who desires to live accord- 
ing to the flesh, and not according to the spirit, let the 
brothers with whom he is, admonish, instruct, and correct 
him humbly and diligently. And if after the third ad- 
monition he will not amend, let them as soon as possible 
send him, or make the matter known to his minister and 
servant, and let the minister and servant do with him what 
may seem to him most expedient before God.” In the 
final rule he says: “If any of the brothers, at the instiga- 
tion of the enemy, sin mortally by those sins for which it 
has been ordained among the brothers that recourse. 
should be had to the provincial ministers alone, the afore- 
said brothers are bound to have recourse to them as soon 
as possible, without delay. But let the ministers them- 
selves, if they are priests, impose penance on them with 
mercy; if, however, they are not priests, let them have it 
imposed by other priests of the Order, as it may seem to 
them most expedient, according to God. And they must 
beware lest they be angry or troubled on account of the 
sins of the others, because anger and trouble impede 
charity in themselves and in others.” 7? 

Shortly before writing the final rule, he addressed the 
following words to a minister: “By this I wish to know 
if thou lovest God and me His servant and thine; namely, 
that there be no brother in the world who has sinned, how 


FRANCISCANBROTHERLINESS 29 


great soever his sin may be, who after he has seen thy 
face shall ever go away without thy mercy, if he seek 
mercy, and, if he seek not mercy, ask thou him if he 
desires mercy. And if he afterward appears before thy 
face a thousand times, love him more than me, to the end 
that thou mayest draw him to the Lord, and on such ones 
always have mercy. And this thou shouldst declare to 
the guardians, when thou canst, that thou art determined 
to do thus of thyself.” 73 

In his description of a good superior he says: “He 
must be a man who comforts the sorrowful, who is the last 
refuge for the tempted, lest the sick, when all means of a 
cure fail, become a prey to despair. In order to win over 
the rebellious ones, he should cast himself at their feet, 
and at times forego his right, in order to win the soul 
of the erring one for Christ. Even to those who have 
left the Order, he should not close his pitying heart as to 
lost sheep, knowing that the temptations must be indeed 
severe which lead to such a fall.” " And when he re- 
signed from the direction of the Order, he prayed to God: 
“Lord, I recommend to Thee the family which Thou hast 
entrusted to me until now. Since I can no longer care 
for them because of the infirmities of which Thou know- 
est, I entrust them to the ministers. Let them render 
account to Thee on the day of judgment, if by their 
negligence or evil example or their too severe correction 
any brother is lost.” 75 

Thus the Ideal of brotherliness runs like a golden thread 
through the entire conception and organization of the 
Franciscan institute. From beginning to end the relation 
of Friar to Friar, of superior to subject and vice versa is 
governed by the Gospel axiom: “You are all brothers.” 

Still more: the Franciscan sun of love shed its glowing 
rays over the entire world. Francis regarded all men as 
brothers and sisters. For all he had a tender and loving 
heart, all were dear to him, for all he was solicitous.7® 


200 © GLEE BD EANDPSIOEISTEEE RFIN ES 


Wherever he commends the fostering of brotherly love to 
his own disciples, are interwoven at the same time ad- 
monitions to love with a brotherly love all fellow-men, 
whether friendly to the Franciscan Ideal, or worldlings 
in the full sense of the word.” He forbade strictly that 
the Friars pass judgment on anyone, or look askance at 
those who lived riotously and were clothed in soft and 
splendid garments. “God,” he said, “is their Lord and 
ours, mighty enough to call them to Himself, and to 
sanctify those who are called.’ He commanded the 
brothers to regard even these worldlings as their brothers 
and masters: as their brothers, because created by the one 
Creator; as their masters, because they made possible a 
life of penance to the good, providing for them their 
necessary livelihood.”® 

Furthermore, his disciples were enjoined to extend their 
love even to their enemies. That indeed is but the fulfil- 
ment of the Gospel precept, binding on all those who pro- 
fess Christian ideals. But it is noteworthy how vividly 
and determinedly Francis conceives this precept, how uni- 
versally he appplies it, and how frequently he urges its 
practise. Let us mention a few relevant instructions and 
precepts. 

When sending out the first Friars on a mission, the 
Saint addressed them as follows: “Go, most beloved, two 
and two into the various quarters of the heavens, preach 
to men peace and penance unto remission of sins, suffer 
patiently persecutions, and be nothing solicitous, for the 
Lord will fulfil His design and His promise. If you are 
asked, answer humbly; if they persecute you, bless them ; 
if they do injustice and spread calumnies against you, 
thank them, because for this the eternal kingdom is pre- 
paredstor use 3 

In his rules the Saint is just as emphatic in command- 
ing his brothers to love their enemies as Christ Himself 
has taught and practised: “Let them not resist evil,8° but 


BREANCHSEARNEBROTHERTENIES 57261 


if anyone should strike them on the cheek, let them turn 
to him the other; and if anyone take away their garment, 
let them not forbid him the tunic also. Let them give to 
everyone that asketh them, and if anyone take away their 
goods, let them not ask them again.?! And let all the 
brothers, wherever they may be, remember that they have 
given themselves, and have relinquished their bodies to 
Our Lord Jesus Christ; and for love of Him they ought 
to expose themselves to enemies both visible and invisible, 
for the Lord says: ‘Whosoever shall lose his life for My 
sake, shall save it’ 8? in eternal life. ‘Blessed are they that 
suffer persecution for justice’ sake, for theirs is the king- 
dom of heaven.’ §* ‘If they have persecuted Me, they will 
also persecute you.’®* If, however, they should persecute 
you in one city, flee to another.’ ®° ‘Blessed are ye when 
they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that 
is evil against you, untruly, for My sake; be glad in that 
day and rejoice, for your reward is great in heaven.’ 86 
. . . Let us all, brothers, give heed to what the Lord says: 
‘Love your enemies, and do good to them that hate you,’ 
For Our Lord Jesus, whose footsteps we ought to follow, 
called His betrayer ‘friend,’ and offered Himself willingly 
to His crucifiers. Therefore, all those who unjustly inflict 
upon us tribulations and anguish, shames and injuries, 
sorrows and torments, martyrdom and death, are our 
friends whom we ought to love much, because we gain 
eternal life by that which they make us suffer.’’ 87 

Francis went to such extremes in his brotherliness as to 
treat even robbers, those outcasts of humanity, as his 
brothers. He commanded expressly: “Whoever may 
come to them, either a friend or a foe, a thief or a robber, 
let them receive him kindly.” 88 How sincere he was in 
this regard, is charmingly illustrated by a chapter of the 
Speculum perfectionis. 

To a certain hermitage of the Friars near Borgo San 
Sepolcro, begging for bread came some robbers, who lay 


262) & TE LDA STOSS TER ATS 


in wait in the woods for passing travelers, to despoil them. 
Some of the Friars maintained that it was not fitting to 
give them alms, while others out of pity relieved them, 
hoping thus to move them to repentance. Meanwhile 
Blessed Francis came to that place, and the Friars asked 
him if it were right to give them alms, and Blessed 
Francis answered. “If you will do as I tell you, confiding 
in God, you shall gain their souls. Go, therefore, and 
take with you good bread and good wine to the woods 
where they dwell, and calling to them, say, ‘Brother rob- 
bers, come to us who are your brothers, and who bring 
you good bread and good wine,’ When they come, spread 
a white cloth on the ground and place thereon the bread 
and wine, and serve them humbly and cheerfully while 
they eat. When they have eaten, speak to them the Word 
of God, and, at the end, beg them for the love of God, as 
your first petition, that they will promise you not to kill 
or wound anyone. If you ask too much of them at first, 
they will not listen to you; but this much for the sake of 
your humility and charity they will promise you. Then 
another day, because of their good promise, take with the 
bread and wine eggs and cheese, and serve them as before 
while they eat. And when they have eaten say to them, 
“Why do you stay here to die of hunger and suffer so 
many hardships in order to do evil in will and deed, for. 
which you will lose your souls unless you are converted 
to the Lord? Better is it to serve the Lord, who in this 
world will give you all you need for your bodies and, 
finally save your souls.’ Then, inspired by the Lord, 
they will be converted because of the humility and 
patience you have shown them.” The Friars did all that 
Blessed Francis had told them, and these robbers, by the 
grace and mercy of God, listened to them, and observed 
literally and in every point all things the Friars had 
humbly begged of them. And further, because of the 
humility and kindness of the Friars, they humbly served 


FRANCISCANBROTHERLINESS 263 


them, carrying wood for them to the hermitage, and some 
amongst them entered the Order. Others, confessing 
their sins with true repentance, made a promise to the 
Friars to live henceforth by the labor of their hands and 
never more commit the like offenses.®® 


GTAP ERO XLT 


PRANGISCAN: GHARI Thy: 


evident that Francis exemplified in his own person 

that Ideal of brotherliness of which St. John says: 
“My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, 
but in deed and in truth.”! Active, practical charity was 
at all times the Ideal of the Seraphic Saint. Its soul is 
his knighthood of Christ, its sphere principally the care 
of the sick, and the relief of the poor. 

I. The movement for the care of the ssck received a 
strong impetus during the period of the Crusades. The 
same enthusiasm that moved countless warriors to leave 
house and home and stake their lives and limbs for the re- 
demption of the Holy Places from the tyranny of the in- 
fidels, spurred on numberless souls to devote themselves 
to the ministry of the sick, those helpless ones whom the 
Saviour Himself in by-gone days had consoled and healed 
with such tender mercy. A vast number of hospitals 
arose, richly endowed with alms and property, as likewise 
a great number of Orders and fraternities which were 
dedicated to the service of suffering humanity. 

This service assumed a truly heroic character when 
dedicated to the lepers. The Arabian leprosy, carried into 
Europe even before the Crusades,” became in a short time 
the most dreaded plague in all countries. The greater 
part of the population would have succumbed to its rav- 
ages, had the lepers not been isolated from the society of 
their fellow-men. They were forced to live apart, in huts 

264 


lee foregoing pages will no doubt have rendered it 


KRANCHSGAN CHART AN 265 


or colonies removed from towns and villages and from the 
public highways. 

The privilege of entering the Community was granted 
them only at Easter and Christmas, and even then they 
were bound to the regulations imposed on them at their 
isolation; i.e. to make known their approach by means 
of a clapper, to indicate with their staff what they wished 
to purchase, to wear their distinctive garb, etc. The inn- 
keepers were prohibited under heavy penalty from harbor- 
ing them, and even the churches were closed to them.? 
The law obliged them to give warning whenever someone 
approached their dwelling-place, so that all contact with 
them could be avoided. The alms which Christian charity 
always had ready for them was placed in a dish set at the 
roadside.* Condemned to a slow death, and already looked 
upon as dead, they received their only solace and assistance 
from the Church and Christian charity. 

The Church regarded them as consecrated to God, 
accompanied them into their exile, with touching cere- 
monies, and attended to their wants with motherly love 
and devotion. Christian charity was ever mindful that 
the Saviour always had shown special tokens of love 
toward the lepers ;? moreover, that it was written of Him: 
“He hath borne our infirmities and carried our sorrows; 
and we have thought Him as it were a leper and as one 
struck by God and afflicted.”® The Christian world 
accordingly perceived in the lepers Jesus Christ Himself, 
who like them was ostracized by the world as an outcast, 
and reputed as the Man of Sorrows. 

This deeply religious view led in a short time to the 
foundation of leper hospitals in countless places. Every 
city, yes, every village almost, had its lazaretto situated 
in an isolated spot. During the lifetime of St. Francis 
there existed two thousand of these in France.” The 
chronicler Matthew of Paris some years later records the 
number of these hospitals as close to nineteen thousand.® 
The Knights of St. Lazarus as well as fraternities and 


266. "ST HEE IDEAL SSO-RESHE ISA 5 


individuals of both sexes devoted themselves to the care 
of the lepers, prompted by the example and the love of 
Christ. 

This was the most severe penance which one could 
take upon oneself. Cardinal Jacques de Vitry writes in 
his History (1223-1226) : “Suffering violence for the sake 
of Christ, they patiently bear almost unthinkable hard- 
ships amid the filth and stench of the afflicted, so that no 
other penance can be compared with this holy and heroic 
martyrdom before God.”? The Dominican General, 
Humbert de Romanis, is in full accord with this state- 
ment when he declares that among many thousands hardly 
a few had enough courage to minister to the sufferers, so 
terrible was the disease and so intolerable the impatience 
and ingratitude of the lepers.1° St. Francis confirms this 
statement by his own experience. 

As a young man of the world, he had an invincible 
repugnance toward the lepers. The mere thought of them 
filled him with disgust. Their presence was so insuffer- 
able to him, that, as he confessed later on, he turned 
away and held his nose whenever he saw a leper colony 
even from a distance of two miles. The most horrid 
monstrosities in the world did not appear so terrifying 
to him as the lepers. Not that he was indifferent to their 
sufferings, but his antipathy was stronger than his sym- 
pathy, and when he perchance met a leper, he tendered 
his alms through the hands of another person, while he 
himself hastened away.!! 

This repugnance remained with him until the day on 
which Our Lord revealed to him that he was called to the 
knightly service of the cross. “From that day on,” 
remarks St. Bonaventure, “it seemed to be made known 
to him that the spiritual combat must begin with the con- 
tempt of the world, and that the soldier of Christ must 
begin by victory over himself.”1* Yet, however strong 
this conviction may have become, it was powerless to 
overcome the disgust and repugnance toward those unfor- 


BRAN Chis GAN CHARITE N 267 


tunate ones, until God spoke to him: “Francis, barter 
away that which thou hast heretofore loved with vain 
and carnal pleasure, for the spiritual; conquer thyself 
and choose the bitter instead of the sweet, if thou wishest 
to know Me; in reward the bitter will then be sweet to 
thee.’’ 8 

Francis was soon to experience this. While riding one 
day over the plain of Assisi he met a leper, whose sudden 
appearance filled him with fear and horror. But he 
quickly recalled to mind the resolution he had made to 
follow after perfection, and remembered that if he would 
be a soldier of Christ he must first overcome himself. So 
dismounting from his horse, he went to meet the leper, 
and when the poor man stretched out his hand to receive 
the alms, Francis kissed it and filled it with money. Hav- 
ing again mounted his horse, he looked around him over 
the wide and open plain, but nowhere could he see the 
leper. Being filled with wonder and joy, he gave thanks 
to God, and resolved within himself to proceed to do still 
greater things than these.1* He then galloped homeward, 
and taking with him a large amount of money, he rode 
to the hospital of the lepers, and gathering about him the 
sufferers, he kissed their hands and distributed the money 
among them. And when he had left the place, that which 
had appeared to him bitter was in fact turned into sweet- 
ness.° In his Testament he testifies to this himself: 
“When I was in sin, it seemed to me very bitter to see 
lepers, and the Lord Himself led me amongst them and I 
showed mercy to them. And when I left them, that which 
had seemed to me bitter was changed for me into sweet- 
ness of body and soul.” 16 

From that time on, he frequently sought out the leper 
hospitals, supplied the wants of the inmates with a gener- 
ous hand, and kissed their hands and mouth with heartfelt 
sympathy, for he beheld in each one the Saviour Him- 
self.1* Especially after he had renounced the world he 
became the friend and companion of the lepers, devoting 


268 “THE DD’ER LE SvO PSIEFERAIN ERS 


himself entirely to their service and showing them every 
manner of kindness for the love of Christ. He washed 
their feet, bound their sores, cleansed them, bathed their 
limbs, in fact, in his heroic devotion he caressed their 
festering wounds.!? 

His first companions vied with him in this heroism of 
love. In the beginning they lived, for the most part, in 
or near the leper hospitals, and rendered to the sick the 
most lowly service with true humility and sincere devo- 
tion.!® It was the express wish of the Saint that his sons 
devote themselves to this work at least for a time. Even 
the proud nobles and pampered worldlings who applied 
for admission into the Order were told that their dwelling 
would be the leper hospital and their duty to minister to 
the lepers.2° In his first rule he likewise ordained that 
the Friars were to solicit alms for the lepers in case of 
necessity.74 

No matter how disgusting, impatient and ungrateful a 
leper might appear, Francis commanded that he be served 
with all the greater devotion and attention. And when 
at times the Friars became disheartened in the face of 
this superhuman task, the example and encouraging words 
of the Saint spurred them on anew.?? On one occasion, 
however, Francis thought himself guilty of harsh treat- 
ment toward a leper. Brother James the Simple had 
brought with him a leper who had been entrusted to his 
care by Francis, from the hospital at Rivo Torto to 
Portiuncula. When Francis became aware of this, he 
said somewhat reproachfully to Brother James: “Thou 
shouldst not take these Christians abroad, since it is fitting 
neither for thee nor for them.” For although he had 
desired him to serve them, he did not wish that they 
should be taken beyond the hospital, since they were 
greatly afflicted and men held them in abhorrence, and 
this Brother James, out of sheer simplicity, would let the 
lepers accompany him from the hospital to St. Mary of 
the Angels as if they were his fellow-Friars. St. Francis 


DRANEBESICANSCHIAERZEITN 269 


himself always called the lepers “Brother Christians.” 
As soon as he had spoken these words, Francis reproached 
himself, thinking that the leper would be offended and 
shamed because of what he had said to Brother James. 
In his desire to make reparation to God and the leper, 
he confessed his fault to Brother Peter Catanii, saying: 
“Wilt thou confirm the penance I desire to perform for 
this fault, and not oppose it?” The latter replied: 
“Brother, do as it pleases thee.” Francis then said: 
“This is my penance, that I eat out of the same bow! with 
my Brother Christian.” When they were seated at table, 
Francis with the leper and all the other Friars, one bowl 
was placed for Francis and the leper, who was covered 
with running sores, especially the hand which he dipped 
into the bowl to take out the pieces of meat. Seeing 
this, Brother Peter and the other Friars were greatly 
troubled, but dared not remonstrate because of the fear 
and the reverence they had for the holy Father.” Even 
now the narrative of the chronicler, who was an eye- 
witness, seems to quiver with agitation in relating this 
incident. 

In the course of time the Friars found it impossible 
to devote practically all their time to the service of the 
sick, being occupied to a larger extent with apostolic 
labors and living in established communities.2* Yet they 
never failed to give some attention to this phase of Chris- 
tian charity. In 1218 Razzardo di Rocco Pazza, a feudal 
lord of Umbria, donated to a priest by the name of Bono 
an extensive piece of land for the purpose of erecting 
thereon a hospital for the lepers and a church. The 
care of this hospital was entrusted to the Friars, because 
of their great influence on the sick as well as on those 
in charge of them.?® No doubt the Friars retained their 
connection with leper hospitals in many other places. The 
chronicler, for instance, of Brother Jordan of Giano men- 
tions the fact that he was guardian in the leper hospital 
at Speyer in 1223 and that the Minister Provincial, Albert 


2700 THEIDEALSOFST.FRANCIS 


of Pisa, presided over a Chapter convened in the same 
place.?* In the following year Brother Jordan was sent 
with several Friars to establish a new monastery at Erfurt, 
in Thuringia; and while their house was in the course 
of construction, they lived in the quarters of the chaplain 
of the leper hospital.?” In the same year the first Fran- 
ciscans set foot on English soil, and a number of them 
likewise found shelter in the hospitals at Canterbury 
and Northampton.?? No doubt the Friars in many in- 
stances made their temporary home in various hospitals 
during the last years of the Saint. Francis himself, 
shortly before his death, being no longer able to preach 
because of his illness, desired to return to his beloved 
lepers and to perform the most lowly services for them.?? 

In response to the earnest wish of their Father, the 
Friars ever afterward proved themselves true friends 
of the sick. The number of spiritual and corporal works 
of mercy which they practised in hospitals and private 
homes during seven centuries, defies computation. Thou- 
sands of Franciscan Friars and nuns died in the service of 
the lepers and the plague-stricken. The Third Order 
especially, which was not hampered by the duties of the 
apostolate and the restriction of the cloister, developed a 
widespread social activity in behalf of suffering humanity. 
Already the oldest Tertian rule, which in the main dates 
back of St. Francis, contains regulations for the care of 
the sick.2° The two great luminaries of the Order, King 
Louis IX of France and the royal princess, Elizabeth of 
Hungary, set a glorious example for all others. 

Not only did Louis IX build many hospitals with his 
own means;*! he ministered to the lepers in person, 
bathing and cleansing their sores and kissing them rever- 
ently. His tender compassion for them even led him 
to share his meals with them and to eat the victuals which 
they had touched with their loathsome hands and cast 
aside, out of reverence for the Saviour.?? 

The good and lovable St. Elizabeth sequestered her- 


PRNNGLS CAIN CHAR TET 271 


self in the hospital at Marburg, which she had established, 
in order to devote the evening of her life entirely to the 
sick. Day and night she spent in their service, cleansing 
and dressing their sores, administering the remedies, con- 
soling them and leading them to God. Even the most 
repugnant tasks could not make her recoil. The lepers 
were her darlings, and to them she consecrated herself 
with incomparable heroism and unspeakable joy. With 
heroic love she took to her bosom a poor girl afflicted 
with the leprosy, whom the dreaded disease had so badly 
deformed that no one in the hospital had the courage to 
approach her, or even to look upon her. Elizabeth 
brought her to her own room, gave the sufferer her own 
bed, cleansed her sores, and kneeling down before her, 
she removed the girl’s shoes, cut her nails, and spent 
many hours with her, playing games with her and speak- 
ing to her with motherly affection and tenderness. “O 
how fortunate we are,” she exclaimed to her companions, 
“how fortunate we are to be permitted to wash and clothe 
Our Lord and Saviour in the person of the lepers!” One 
day she declared to the Minister Provincial, Brother 
Gerard: “O my Father, the most ardent desire of my 
heart is to be considered and treated like a leper. I wish 
that they would construct for me as for the poor people 
a little hut of hay and straw, and hang in front of it a 
piece of linen to warn the passers-by, together with a poor- 
box, wherein alms might be placed.’ 38 

These illustrious examples were followed by nearly all 
the numerous congregations which professed the Tertian 
Rule, as likewise by the millions of pious souls that ob- 
serve the same rule in the midst of the turmoil of the 
world. | 

2. The reltef of the poor was as dear to the heart of 
Francis as the care of the sick. Indeed, while he became 
the friend of the lepers only after his “conversion,” he 
showed and fostered from earliest youth a special love for 
the needy of every description. With every step which 


272) TV HR TLDEATISZO:EISST SIR AN 


he took in the realization of his evangelical vocation, this 
love for the poor deepened and grew until the day when 
he chose the portion of the poor and of the outcasts.*4 
From this time on, he became the Knight of Lady Pov- 
erty and of Christ, the King of Poverty. How else could 
he have truly become the Knight of Christ, if he had 
not made the lot of the poor his own? If the worldly 
knight at his investiture vowed to be the lifelong pro- 
tector of the needy,?> how much more this Knight of 
the Cross, who beheld in the poor and the sick his own 
divine Master? 

His biographers hardly find words enough to express 
adequately his surpassing love for the poor. “He loved 
the poor most tenderly, was most compassionate toward 
them, and was the humble servant of all,” is the testi- 
mony of the Three Companions.?® Thomas of Celano, 
however, writes: “What tongue can express how com- 
passionate this man was to the poor? He was, in truth, 
by very nature most compassionate, and this compassion 
was increased by the love which was granted to him 
from above. For this reason the heart of Francis went 
out to the poor; and for those whom he could not assist 
bodily, he showed most tender sympathy. The needs and 
misery of his fellow-men he referred in spirit to the person 
of Christ. Thus, he beheld the Son of the Poor Lady 
in all the poor by carrying Him poor and naked in his 
heart, whom she carried poor and naked in her arms. And 
although Francis had banished every thought of envy 
from his heart, yet he could not repress the envy of 
poverty. Whenever he met one poorer than himself, he 
immediately envied him, and forthwith began the contest 
for poverty, full of anxiety lest he be vanquished by the 
poorer one.” 37 

One day, as the man of God was going about preach- 
ing, he chanced to meet a poor man on the street. When 
Francis beheld the destitute condition of the beggar, he 
exclaimed with great emotion to his companion: “This 


SIINVA,T “IS 40 HIvaq AHL 








EFRANISSEN EHRT EN 273 


man’s poverty puts us to shame and contains a grievous 
complaint against our poverty.” “In what manner, 
Brother?” asked the other. The Saint replied with a 
voice choked with sobs: “For my only treasure, yea, for 
my Queen I have chosen Poverty, and behold her more 
resplendent in him than in me. Or art thou not aware 
that the cry has resounded throughout the earth, that we 
are the poorest of the poor for the sake of Christ? But 
this poor man convinces us of the fact that it is not 
trulyesorn?? 

His compassion for the poor and the envy of their pov- 
erty was the source of that profound esteem and that 
sincere friendliness which he manifested toward them at 
all times. Though he instructed his followers to greet and 
to treat both the honored and the lowly with all courtesy 
and brotherliness,?? yet he wished them to prefer the little 
ones of this world to all others. In very decisive terms 
he gives the following precept in his first rule: “They 
ought to rejoice when they converse with mean and de- 
spised persons, with the poor and the weak, with the 
infirm and the lepers, and with those who beg in the 
streets.” 4° 

All this was self-evident to him. The poor who were 
unable to alter their lot, and the Friars who voluntarily 
shared this lot with them, obviously were of the same 
company. Whether the poverty of the former was self- 
caused or not; whether it was in reality as great as it ap- 
peared; whether it was the lot of one worthy or un- 
worthy: such distinctions were of no consequence to 
Francis. Whenever he beheld poverty standing before 
him, he beheld Christ in spirit, and forthwith the Knight 
of Poverty was filled with profound sympathy and 
compassion. 

For this reason he could not bear to hear others speak 
or judge harshly of the poor.* It happened on one occa- 
sion that a Friar uttered the harsh words to a beggar who 
had begged alms of him: “Take heed that thou dost not 


274.  THEIDEARES OR STIFERANGTS 


feign poverty, whilst thou art in fact rich!” Francis was 
deeply grieved when hearing these words spoken. „ He 
reproved the Friar severely, and commanded him to take 
off his habit in the presence of the beggar, to kiss his 
feet and to implore his forgiveness. He then added: 
“Whoever insults a poor man, does injury to Christ Him- 
self, whose noble image he bears; for He has become 
poor in this world for our sake.” 42 Another time Francis 
met a man who was not only poor, but ill. This double 
misfortune sorely grieved the Saint. While pursuing his 
way, he began to converse with his companion on pov- 
erty, until his heart glowed with compassion and love for 
the sufferer. His companion listened attentively, but 
doubted in his heart whether the poor man was content 
with his lot. Finally he remarked: “It is true, brother, 
the man is poor; but perhaps there is no one in this 
whole region who covets riches more than he.” The Saint 
became aroused at this remark, and when the Friar had 
confessed his fault, Francis commanded him: “Go quickly, 
take off thy habit and prostrate thyself at the feet of the 
poor man, and confess to him thy fault. But do not only 
ask his pardon, beseech him also for his prayers.” The 
Friar obeyed, did as he was told, and returned. Francis 
then counseled him most gravely: “Whenever thou seest 
a poor man, O brother, thou seest an image of Our Lord 
and His poor Mother. In like manner also, when thou 
seest a sick man, remember the infirmities which He has 
borne for us.” 48 Thomas of Celano adds hereto: “Thus 
it was in truth: Francis constantly gazed upon the counte- 
nance of his Christ; everywhere he beheld the Man of 
Sorrows, Him who was acquainted with infirmity.” 44 

In the same measure, however, as Francis encouraged 
his disciples to esteem and love the poor for love of God, 
he also encouraged the poor themselves to regard their 
poverty, and to bear st, in the light of the same Ideal. 
One day he met near Colle, in the domain of Perugia, a 
beggar whom he had previously known in the world as a 


FRANCISCAN CHARITY 275 


man of moderate wealth. Full of pity, Francis approached 
him and asked: “My brother, how farest thou?” The 
latter began to rail vehemently against the master to 
whom he had been subject and who had deprived him of 
all his possessions. “By the fault of my master,” he 
said, “whom the almighty God may damn, I am in this 
sorry plight.” At these words Francis was seized with 
even greater pity for the unfortunate man, more on 
account of his immortal soul than for his body, by reason 
of the deadly hate which he bore his master, and he said 
to him: “Brother, for the love of God, forgive thy master, 
and thus unburden thy conscience; it may then come 
to pass that he will return to thee thy stolen property. If 
not, thou hast lost thy property, and thy soul as well.” 
The other retorted angrily: “I cannot forgive him unless 
he returns what he has taken from me.” Seeing that 
words availed nothing, Francis took off the mantle which 
he wore on his shoulders and said: “Behold, I give thee 
this mantle, and beseech thee to forgive thy master for 
the love of God, thy Lord.” This act of generosity sof- 
tened the heart of the other; he accepted the gift, and 
willingly forgave the injustice done him.* 

Thus, Francis was not content with reconciling the poor 
to his fate, showing him loving kindness and condescend- 
ing to his poverty, and placing before him the divine 
Ideal: he endeavored to relieve poverty by practscal 
charity. It is, however, his own secret how he accom- 
' plished this, since he personally could call nothing in this 
world his own. 

In the first place, he shared the scanty food which 
Divine Providence prepared for him, with the poor. It 
was self-evident to him that the hungry poor were en- 
titled to be received by the Friars as guests. In giving 
alms his manner was so charmingly kind and affectionate 
that it seemed as if he were receiving a favor instead 
of the poor. The result was that whenever he had occa- 


B76. SL DAC Ss OSHS oe He ENG RS 


sion to relieve the needs of others, he at the same time 
conferred a lasting benefit on their souls.*® 

He was inconsolable when there was nothing in the 
house to give to the needy. On such occasions he would 
give away even the most necessary articles. One day, 
when he was living at St. Mary of the Angels, a poor 
old woman, who had two sons in the Order, came and 
begged alms of Francis.» He immediately turned to 
Brother Peter Catanii, who at that time was Minister 
General, and said: “Have you anything we could give to 
our mother?’ For he spoke of the mothers of the Friars 
as if they were the mothers of himself and all other 
Friars. Brother Peter answered: “In all the house there 
is nothing we can give her; that is, nothing that would 
satisfy her bodily needs. In the church we have only one 
New Testament from which to read the lessons at Mat- 
ins.” Then Francis said to him: “Give our mother the 
Testament that she may sell it for her needs, for I firmly 
believe this will be more pleasing to God and the Blessed 
Virgin than that we should read out of it.” It was 
given to her, and thus the first Testament which the Order 
possessed, was disposed of by an act of charity.*? 

In cases of extreme necessity Francis did not hesitate 
to give away even the clothing which he wore. Thomas 
of Celano remarks that he delighted to perform this work 
of mercy from earliest youth. How often did he not 
strip himself of his costly attire to give it to the first 
beggar whom he met!?® Now, however, he was poor 
himself, and could not part with his only habit. For 
this reason he at times allowed himself to be persuaded 
to accept a mantle, so as to be able to give it to the next 
beggar whom he chanced to meet. 

Once during a severe winter he was staying in the 
vicinity of Celano. To protect himself from the cold, 
he covered himself with a piece of cloth, which a friend 
of the Friars at Tivoli had given him. Meeting an old 
beggar woman who asked an alms of him, he immediately 


FRANCISCAN CHARITY 277 


took off the covering from his shoulders and gave it to 
her, saying: “There, make thyself a warm dress, for 
thou art surely in need of it.” The woman with a laugh 
seized the goods from the hands of the Saint, and filled 
with both joy and fear hastened home and cut it up, so as 
not to give the donor time to ask its return. When, how- 
ever, she discovered that the cloth did not suffice for a 
dress, she returned to Francis and informed him of her 
plight. Francis looked at his companion, who wore a 
similar covering, and said to him: “Hearest thou, brother, 
what the poor woman is saying? For the love of God let 
us endure the cold and give the cloth to this woman who 
is in want, that she may have sufficient to make a full 
garment.’ He had given his mantle, the brother gave 
his own, and both remained uncovered, but the old woman 
had sufficient cloth to make herself a dress.*® 

Similar scenes were enacted frequently. If the Saint, 
so exceedingly rich in poverty, had nothing wherewith to 
clothe the poor, he would go to some rich friends and ask 
them for a loan of a garment or a mantle of fur. When 
they had joyfully complied with his request, he would 
say gratefully: “I accept this loan on one condition only, 
that in no wise you expect its return.” On the very next 
occasion he would then joyfully dispose of the garments 
obtained in this manner.’ 

The Friars in consequence were often in great fear for 
the well-being of their Father, who, though almost con- 
stantly ailing, always disposed of the winter garments 
which kind friends had donated. So they procured a 
mantle themselves, thinking that he would not give it 
away without their consent, Francis, however, had re- 
course to an ingenious stratagem. He was staying at 
Cella, near Cortona. A poor man came to him who had 
recently buried his wife, and had a large family of small 
children to provide for. The Saint’s sole resource was his 
mantle, which the Friars had procured and of which he 
was not free to dispose. It recurred to him that the mantle 


278. ,IHE I DEATSOHSTIER AI TS 


could be used as a pawn. He therefore said to the poor 
man: “For the love of God I will surrender this mantle 
to thee, but do not part with it unless well paid for.” The 
Friars saw what was going on and hastened to take away 
the mantle, but the poor man beheld the encouraging looks 
of the Saint, and so he fought for the garment with might 
and main as if it were his own. The Friars were finally 
forced to abandon the struggle, and agreed to redeem the 
mantle themselves.’l 

When such means did not achieve the desired result, 
the Saint appealed to the supreme Ideal of poverty, which 
entitled him to be poorer than the poorest beggar. Meet- 
ing a beggar one day while returning from Siena, he said 
to his companion: “Brother, let us restore this cloak to this 
poor little one to whom it properly belongs. We have 
accepted it for our use until we should meet some one 
more needy than ourselves.” The Friar remonstrated with 
the Saint, and endeavored to convince him that the cloak 
was more necessary for himself, and that it were wrong 
to despoil himself of it. Francis, however, replied: “I do 
not wish to be a thief; for it would, in truth, be accounted 
a theft unto us if we failed to give it to him who is in 
greater need of it than ourselves.” The Friar then was 
silent, and Francis gave away the cloak.?? 

At times, however, the generosity of the Saint met with 
serious obstacles, because the superiors, whom he obeyed 
like a child, were more concerned about him than about 
the poor. He would then plead so touchingly and ear- 
nestly, until he had scored a victory. At the time that 
he was staying in the Bishop’s palace at Rieti, he was in 
the care of a physician, a serious illness of the eyes threat- 
ening him with blindness. While at the physician’s house, 
he met a poor woman who suffered from a like evil. Turn- 
ing to his superior, he said in the most friendly manner: 
“Brother guardian, we must now again return our strange 
goods.” The guardian replied: “If anything is found that 
does not belong to us, let us return it without delay.” 


FRANCISCAN CHARITY 279 


“This mantle,” said the Saint, “which was loaned to us by 
that poor woman, must now be returned to her, for she 
has nothing in her purse wherewith to pay the physi- 
cian.’ “Brother,” answered the guardian, “this mantle 
is mine, and no one has loaned it to us; use it as long 
as it pleases thee, but if thou no longer desirest it, return 
it to me.” For the guardian had shortly before purchased 
the mantle for the use of the Saint. The latter, however, 
would not be quieted, but continued pleading: “Brother 
guardian, thou hast always been so gracious to me; grant 
me now, I beseech thee, also this favor.” The guardian 
then replied: “Well, then, Father, do as it pleases thee 
and as the spirit prompts thee.” Francis thereupon sum- 
moned a pious friend and said to him: “Take this mantle, 
together with twelve loaves of bread, and go to that poor 
woman and say: ‘A beggar to whom thou hast loaned 
this mantle, renders thee sincere thanks for its use, and 
begs thee to accept again what is thine.” The friend 
went and did as he was told. The woman, however, 
thought that he was making sport of her and exclaimed 
full of anger: “Leave me in peace with thy mantle; I 
know not what thou art prating about.” The man, how- 
ever, insisted, and finally gave her the mantle as well as 
the bread. When she saw that he was in earnest, and, 
fearing that she might be again deprived of the things she 
had acquired so easily, she hurriedly departed, forgetful 
of both physician and her affliction, and returned home 
with the mantle.53 

When he had nothing else at his disposal, Francis would 
often exchange his poor habit for the much poorer gar- 
ment of a beggar whom he chanced to meet.’* At other 
times he would tear off the lower part of his habit and 
give it to a beggar. Yes, time and again he took off 
even his breeches and gave them away. If he had 
nothing of his own to share with the poor, he would lend 
them the help of his hands. Whenever he met poor 
people carrying bundles of wood and other burdens, he 


2800 TURE INDIERIT SCOFZSIT AIORBARNCHS 


hastened to relieve them and took the load on his own 
weak shoulders.°® 

Thus, he loved the poor with every fiber of his compas- 
sionate heart, and imitated most faithfully his divine 
Master, the Friend of the poor.?? 

No wonder, then, that the love of the poor was be- 
queathed to his disciples and to hts entire Order as a pre- 
cious hewloom! We have already shown how conscien- 
tiously the first Friars adhered to the instruction of 
Francis to distribute their substance to the poor whenever 
possible on their entrance into the Order.?® Not content 
with this, they freely and joyously shared with the poor 
the alms they received as true followers of the Poverello. 
If no food was at hand to dispose of, they would often 
give away part of their clothing. Repeatedly they cut 
off the hood or a sleeve from their habit, that the beggar 
might not depart empty-handed, and to fulfil the injunc- 
tion of the Gospel: “Give to everyone that asketh thee.” °® 
It would be interesting and edifying to illustrate in par- 
ticular how solicitous the disciples of Francis were for 
the poor; let us record a few instances. 

Blessed Brother Giles, the third companion of the Saint, 
had but shortly joined his company. While on the way 
to Assisi in quest of some cloth for a habit, he met a 
beggar woman. Immediately the novice took off his 
upper garment and gave it to the beggar.®° Further on, 
he encountered another beggar, but having nothing except 
the habit which Francis had given him, Giles tore off the 
hood and gave this to the beggar. For twenty days he 
then traveled about without a hood.®! He not only pro- 
vided his own livelihood by the labor of his hands, but 
frequently supported other poor in like manner.®* Indeed, 
he considered it the duty of every Friar to feed the poor, 
to clothe them, and to relieve their needs generously and 
plentifully. 

Blessed Luchesio, who was converted by the preaching 
of Francis, sold his vast estates and divided the proceeds 


RAN GUS CAN CHART 281 


among the poor. He retained for himself and his wife 
but one small piece of ground, to insure his own livelihood 
and that of his subjects. At regular intervals he made 
the rounds of the neighboring hamlets, villages and towns, 
seeking out the needy, the sick and the aged, and shelter- 
ing them in his own home. It was of frequent occur- 
rence that he carried one cripple on his shoulders, and led 
two others on each side. If his resources failed to satisfy 
their wants, he took a basket, went from door to door in 
quest of alms, and returned heavily laden with foods of all 
kinds. And with such tender and glowing words did he 
speak of the love of poverty, that the unfortunates not only 
were content with their lot, but soon learned to bear it 
with rejoicing.™ 

St. Elizabeth of Thuringia was accustomed to search 
out all the huts far and near, and personally distributed 
among the poor, meat, bread, flour, and other necessities 
of life. She looked over their clothes and beds, and ex- 
amined closely into their needs, in order to succor them all 
the more effectively. Her own precious jewels, silk gar- 
ments, and other treasures were sold and divided among 
the poor; even her own princely dowry found its way one 
day into the hands of twelve thousand poor. If perchance 
on her errands of mercy she met beggars who were 
reduced to the last extremity and despised by all, she 
sheltered them in her own house, shared her food with 
them, and served them as a maid. Her confessor, Father 
Conrad, endeavored to separate her from these poor out- 
casts, but she implored him: ‘No, my dearest master, do 
not take them from me; be mindful of my former worldly 
life with its pomp and vanity ; henceforth I must live with 
the poor and the lowly. Their company obtains for me 
countless graces. Permit me to rejoice in their presence.” ®© 

St. Louis daily fed one hundred and twenty of the poor 
in his palace; during Lent and Advent the number reached 
two hundred. Very often he made the rounds personally 
with plates, pitchers of wine, and bread, cut their bread 


282. Ti eDiets SE OHR SET I Ra eters 


for them, and distributed money among them. On days 
of fast or on vigils he never took his place at table before 
he had personally attended to all the wants of the poor. 
His special favor was enjoyed by the very poor, toward 
whom he was more bountiful than to others. Three of 
these were selected each day, taking turns in eating with 
him at noon and in the evening. They were served with 
each course before the others, and on their departure each 
received a generous sum of money. Besides this, he sup- 
ported countless poor families, established poor-houses, 
endowed poor convents, and aided indigent students. 
When his courtiers began to murmur against this un- 
heard-of lavishness, he remarked curtly: “In one way 
or another a king is bound to be extravagant; I prefer 
to be extravagant in almsgiving for the love of God, 
rather than to be extravagant in worldly and transitory 
things. In this manner the immoderate expenditures which 
must often be made for the sake of worldly undertakings, 
are overlooked and balanced by excess in spiritual 
things.” 66 

Space does not permit us to enumerate further exam- 
ples of Franciscan lovers of the poor. Their number is 
endless. Millions of Tertiaries have devoted their sub- 
stance during the course of centuries for the relief of 
bodily suffering in all its forms. Countless also is the 
number of Friars who have renounced all earthly posses- 
sions to enrich the poor; who lived from the labor of 
their hands and their mind, and from frugal alms in 
order to ennoble, yea, sanctify poverty; who made every 
effort and used every influence to alleviate the sufferings 
of the poor. Thus, history has at all times justified the 
title which contemporaries accorded the Poverello: “Pater 
pauperum pauper Franciscus—the poor little Francis, the 
father of the poor.” 67 


CHAPTER XIV 


THE FRANCISCAN PEACE MOVEMENT 


itself to the care of the sick and the relief of the 
poor: the Poverello became the benefactor of all 
ranks of society by his peace movement. 

1. A true child of “sweet Assisi” —la dolce Asstsi— 
and of balmy Umbria, Francis was predestined by nature 
for a mission of peace. All that was gentle and mild 
attracted him, while on the other hand he had an 
instinctive abhorrence for all that was severe, rough or 
unbrotherly. He showed marked preference for Brother 
Little Lamb of God, for Brother John the Simple, Brother 
Juniper, Brother Masseo, Brother Giles, and other equally 
lovable characters; likewise for the lambkins, doves and 
nightingales ; while for the cruel swine he had but threats,! 
and for Brother Wolf the command to change his mode 
of life.? 

Even as a youthful prisoner of war at Perugia his 
patience conquered the haughty and embittered character 
of an imprisoned knight, and prevailed upon his fellow- 
prisoners to receive the latter again in their midst.” His 
work for the promotion of universal peace, however, took 
definite shape when he was called by God to embrace the 
life as outlined by the Gospel. On that occasion he heard 
the gospel on the Mission of the apostles, together with 
the injunction given them: “And when you come into 
the house, salute it, saying: Peace be to this house.” 4 
He regarded these words, as well as his vocation, as a 
direct revelation to himself. As long as he lived, he 

283 


teat to the charity did not, however, confine 


284 7,2. IP BALDIERT SEO RSS TIER De 


clung to the reality of this revelation, and even when at 
death’s door, he declared: “The Lord revealed to me this 
salutation, that we should say: The Lord give you 
peaceran 

In accordance with this conviction, he embodied this 
salutation in the rule of his Order, and he commanded 
his brothers to wish peace to all men, wherever they be, 
and to say on entering a=house: “Peace be to this 
house!” ® At first this greeting caused no little surprise. 
When one of the Friars was going about the country and 
greeted men and women while at their work with these 
words, some laughed, others became indignant, and asked: 
“What means this strange greeting?’ Intimidated by 
such experiences, the brother asked Francis that he might 
employ some other greeting. “Heed them not,” the Saint 
replied, “for they know not what is of God. Be not 
ashamed of it, for the time will come when even the rich 
and the princes of this world shall revere thee and thy 
brothers because of this greeting.” ? 

Francis himself was the first to extend this greeting to 
all whom he met. He did so with such warmth and 
genuine sincerity, that thereby many who had lived in 
enmity and hatred, found peace with themselves and with 
their fellow-men. The burden of his sermons particularly 
was a constant appeal for peace. Every sermon began 
with the words: “May the Lord give you His peace!” 8 
Whenever he heard that strife and discord reigned in 
any place, his entire discourse was directed toward the 
restoration of peace.? 

The brothers were enjoined to follow this example when 
setting out to preach. The first mission on which he 
sent them was one of peace. He took leave of them with 
the words: “Go, dearest brothers, two by two into all 
the country, and preach to men peace and penance unto 
the remission of their sins.”!° And the last mission on 
which he sent them was again one of peace. We feel 
obliged to deal with it more in detail, because it shows 


PRAINIG lS © AND BAGEIM.O VEEMIE.N oD 286 


with what originality and confidence Francis and his 
disciples undertook the work of promoting peace, and 
how indefatigably they carried it on. 

The Saint had arrived at Assisi sick unto death, when 
he heard that a great discord had arisen between the 
Bishop and the Governor of the city. The Bishop had 
excommunicated the Governor, and the latter ordered that 
no one should sell to the Bishop, nor buy from him, nor 
make any contract with him. Francis was moved with 
great pity, especially as no one tried to make peace be- 
tween them, and he said to his companions: “It is a 
great reproach for the servants of God that the Bishop 
and the Governor hate each other, and that no one tries 
to make peace between them.’ And then he added an- 
other verse to the Canticle of the Sun on this subject as 
follows: 


“Praised be my Lord for those who for Thy love forgive 
And weakness bear and tribulation. 
Blessed those who shall in peace endure, 
For by Thee, Most High, shall they be crowned.” 


Then he called one of his companions and said to him: 
“Go to the Governor and beg him for me that, with the 
chief men of the city and such others as will join them, 
he go to the Bishop’s palace.’ When this Friar had de- 
parted, he said to his other two companions: “Go before 
the Bishop and the Governor and those who are with 
them, and sing the Canticle of Brother Sun, and have 
confidence in God that He will humble their hearts, and 
cause them to return to their former love and friendship.” 
When all were assembled in the cloister of the Bishop’s 
palace, the two Friars arose, and one of them said: 
“Blessed Francis during his illness has made The Praises 
of the Lord by All His Creatures, in honor of the Lord, 
and for the edification of others; and now he beseeches 
you to listen to it with great devotion.” And they began 
to recite and sing it. The Governor also rose and, with 


>86 EDHE LEDEALS. OH SE ERANENS 


joined hands and arms, as if at the Gospel of the Lord, 
with much devotion and many tears, listened intently, for 
he had great faith in, and devotion for, Blessed Francis. 
When the Friars had ended singing the Praises, the Gov- 
ernor said before all those present: “Verily I say to you, 
that not only the Lord Bishop, whom I desire and am 
bound to hold as my Lord, but, had anyone slain my 
kinsman, or my son, him also would I forgive.” With 
this he fell at the Bishop’s feet, saying: “Behold, I am 
ready to make you any satisfaction that it may please you 
to demand, for the love of Our Lord Jesus Christ and 
His servant, Blessed Francis.” Then the Bishop took 
him by the hand and raised him up, saying: “By the 
virtue of my office it is fitting I should he humble, but 
as by nature I am prone to anger, I pray you to pardon 
me.” Then with much kindness and love they embraced 
and kissed each other. All the people however, praised 
God, who had restored peace and harmony through the 
-efforts of Blessed Francis. 

In order to promote their mission of peace, Francis and 
his brothers avoided all that might disturb harmony 
among themselves, or entangle them in any dispute with 
others. Their constant endeavor was to render their 
association with all men of the most peaceable nature.'? 
Francis counseled his disciples repeatedly: “As you 
preach peace by word, so you should also possess peace, 
and superabundant peace in your hearts. Anger no one, 
nor vex any man; but by your meekness urge others to 
be peaceful, meek and merciful. For we are called to 
heal the wounded, to succor the injured, and to bring 
back the erring to the ways of righteousness.”’ 14 

It is not due to mere chance that as early as 1258 a 
Franciscan, Gilbert of Tournay, a professor at the Uni- 
versity of Paris, wrote a treatise for the Friars “On Peace 
and Tranquillity of Soul.” His main objective is to con- 
vince his readers that they must possess peace within their 
own soul if they wish to impart it to others. He then 


FRANCISCANPEACEMOVEMENT 2% 


remarks very ingeniously that peace of heart is the fruit 
of the knightly service of Christ. “Now, therefore,” he 
exclaims, “brandish the sword with the left hand as with 
the right, and be brave, that the word may apply to thee: 
‘Peace be to thee, most valiant of men!’ If the knights 
of this world fight undauntedly in order to stir up the 
wind of popular favor, how much more zealously must 
the knights of Christ battle for the eternal crown. And 
as, according to martial law, the land which is given to 
the knights as spoils, is used partly for their sustenance, 
and partly is reserved for future times, lest they become 
impoverished because of mal-administration, in like man- 
ner thou shalt also, according to the measure of thy fealty 
to the Lord, be given true peace of heart in this world, 
and God’s eternal peace will be reserved for thee in the 
exe Ge 

2. To be an apostle of peace in that era presupposed 
this nobility and idealism of heart and mind. For there 
was a crying need of restoring harmony not only between 
individuals and families, but only too frequently between 
whole cities and provinces, rent asunder by petty strife. 
The cause of this deplorable condition must be sought 
mainly in the social evils inherent in the feudal system. 

The feudal system implied that by an extensive grada- 
tion the lower classes were ruled by the higher. The 
ruler of a country held sway over his immediate vassals, 
to whom he gave part of his kingdom in fief. These 
vassals of the crown in turn lorded it over their feuda- 
tories, and so on down to the last class, who were mere 
retainers. This socio-political institution was of a most 
salutary nature as long as the lower strata of society were 
in need of the protection of the higher, and as long as the 
primitive relations of feudatory dependence prevailed. 
But when this relation underwent an essential change, 
due to the new monetary and economical system, the 
lower classes began to aspire after fuller liberty and inde- 
pendence. The Minores, that is, the artisans and smaller 


238 4 KEINER DIERESIO HS Car Rey 


merchants, began to struggle for equal rights and a share 
in the government with the Maiores, that is, the ruling 
class of wealthy merchants, the nobles and knights.1® This 
long-drawn-out struggle frequently led to bloody civil 
strife. 

In Assisi the strife between the two factions reached 
its climax at the beginning of the thirteenth century. As 
early as 1198 the populace rebelled, and drove out the 
much-hated feudal lords. These allied themselves with 
Perugia, the ancient enemy of Assisi, and prepared to 
make war. In the hope of more easily warding off the 
attack of the powerful enemy, the remaining Maiores of 
Assisi agreed to compromise with the Minores and con- 
ceded certain rights to them. The war of 1204 never- 
theless ended with a rather humiliating defeat for the 
Assisians. Many of them, among whom we find Francis, 
were led captive to Perugia and imprisoned for one 
years 

When peace had been restored, the Minores of Assisi 
pressed the Maiores to grant them still greater civil rights. 
The decisive solution was reached on November 9, 1210, 
when the representatives of both factions signed an agree- 
ment, which may be styled the Magna Charta of the 
democracy of Assisi. It begins thus: “In the name of 
God, Amen. The grace of the Holy Spirit be with you. 
To the honor of Our Lord Jesus Christ, of the Blessed 
Virgin Mary, of the Emperor Otto, and Duke Leopold. 
This is the ordinance and covenant made between the 
Maiores and Minores of Assisi for all future times. 
Without mutual consent they may not enter into an 
alliance, neither with the Pope, nor with his nuncios or 
legates, nor with the Emperor or the King and their 
legates and nuncios, nor with any city or fortress, nor 
with any powerful lord; but in all things they should 
agree as to what is more necessary for the honor, welfare 
and prosperity of the city of Assisi.” Then follow a 


BRANEISCANBEACEMON EMENT 289 


number of acts, according to which the feudal lords 
acknowledge full equal rights to their subjects.!® 

It is beyond all doubt that the lion’s share in this 
peaceable triumph of democracy belongs to St. Francis. 
Since 1198 his sympathy had indeed been with the 
Minores.1? From that time he followed with keen interest 
the steadily growing democratic movement. He openly 
manifested his preference for the lower classes by select- 
ing for himself and his disciples the title of Minores, 
Friars Minor.?° But his one desire was to secure a peace- 
able settlement of the mighty conflict. Day after day he 
and his followers exhorted great and small to make peace. 
Time and again his appeal for peace resounded in the 
cathedral of his native city.*4 In consequence, the desire 
for a lasting peace prevailed and led to the peace pact of 
521012 

In other places the Saint likewise acted as mediator 
in the conflict between the struggling classes. One day 
he arrived at Arezzo and found the entire city in revolt. 
High and low were engaged in a bloody combat; the city 
seemed doomed to certain destruction. Francis sent his 
companion, Brother Sylvester, ahead and commanded him: 
“Hasten to the gate of the city, and in the name of the 
Most High bid all the devils of discord leave the city 
at once.” The brother followed the instruction of the 
Saint in all simplicity, and the Saint then stepped before 
the excited mob with the customary greeting, and in a 
short while peace was restored. The man of peace became 
the savior of the city.?? 

The lower classes, indeed, often resorted to unlawful 
means in their struggle to wrest their rights from the 
lords, but in this they were but apt pupils of the lords 
themselves. Only too frequently did the latter abandon 
the Christian ideal of knighthood, and engage in petty 
wars and plunder. ‘Their insatiable greed for power and 
wealth induced them not only to exploit their subjects, 
but also to carry on feuds with one another. The words 


200 ® ‘DL HE@DEALSIO RS TR REIN Gis 


which Pope Urban II spoke to the knights in his appeal 
for the Crusade at the synod of Clermont in 1095 are 
significant: “The arms which you have stained with 
blood in your murderous feuds, now wield against the 
enemies of the Christian faith and name. Cleanse your- 
selves from theft, plunder and arson by a work pleasing 
to God. Ye who have oppressed orphans, robbed the 
widows, murdered your Christian brethren, plundered 
Church property, and committed every manner of crime, 
desist now from these abominations, and fight for your 
brethren against the hostile nations.” ** By following this 
call, the unbridled warlike spirit of the knights was 
checked and directed toward the accomplishment of a holy 
and noble cause, and knighthood itself was thereby 
ennobled. Nevertheless, many representatives of the 
feudal nobility availed themselves as heretofore of the 
law of might, and all the efforts of the Church and of the 
State to abolish these abuses remained futile. We meet 
with instances of this sort also in the life of Francis. 
The lords of Perugia were noted far and wide for 
their ruthless tyranny. No neighboring city was safe from 
their attacks, and Assisi especially was frequently made 
the objective of their animosity. Francis nevertheless 
hoped to bring about their reform. He journeyed to 
Perugia and began to preach. The people gathered about 
him in large numbers; the knights, however, had resolved 
to disturb the apostle of peace. They held a grand tourna- 
ment and caused so great a clamor that the preacher could 
not be understood. Francis then turned to the disturbers 
and exclaimed with indignation: “O the folly of unfor- 
tunate men! You consider not, nor do you fear the 
judgments of God! Hear ye, then, what the Lord tells 
you through’ me, the poor little one. The Lord has ex- 
alted you above all that dwell in these confines ; you should 
therefore also excel in charity and gratitude toward God. 
But instead you are ingrates, you attack your neighbors 
with the force of arms, murder them, and plunder their 


FRANCISCANPEACEMOVEMENT 2g9ı 


possessions. I say unto you that this will not pass un- 
avenged, but for your greater chastisement God will 
plunge you into civil strife, so that you will strike one 
another in common revolt. For whoever does not heed 
God’s will, will suffer His anger.” A few days later the 
conflict actually broke out in their midst. The populace 
demanded their rights with the force of arms, their rage 
being directed especially against the lords. The result 
was a slaughter so appalling that the neighboring cities, 
who had but shortly before been attacked by Perugia, had 
pity on the unfortunate city.”° 

In Bologna, however, the efforts of the Saint to restore 
peace were crowned with greater success. The nobility of 
that city had for a long time been engaged in a deadly 
feud. Their mutual hatred had often resulted in cruel 
bloodshed, and it appeared as if the warring factions could 
never be reconciled again. Francis preached to the people 
on the feast of the Assumption, 1222. Nearly all the 
inhabitants of the city were assembled in the public square. 
Francis announced his theme: “The angels, men, the 
devils.” In fact, however, his entire sermon dealt with 
the laying aside of enmities and the resuming of covenants 
of peace. He spoke with such unction and conviction 
that not only the common people were carried away by 
their enthusiasm, but also the warring families, who then 
and there became reconciled to each other.?® 

In like manner Francis succeeded frequently in break- 
ing up the feuds which existed between the lords them- 
selves and between the people subject to them. 

The apostolic peacemaker of Assisi, however, aimed to 
exterminate the evil at its root. This lay in the fact that 
the vassal was compelled to swear allegiance to the lord 
in whose domain he dwelt. Consequently, he was bound 
to render feudal service to his lord, especially to bear 
arms at the demand of his liege. This promoted and 
facilitated petty wars and raids on the part of the lesser 
lords, and aggressive wars on the part of the greater, 


292, THE AL DEAN FSTOMTS TR ae 


including kings and emperors. Francis paralyzed this 
abuse of the feudal system by inserting into the rule of 
the Brothers of Penance, or Tertiaries,?” the following 
precepts: 

“The brothers may not receive arms to be wielded 
against any person, nor bear them on their person. Let 
all refrain from taking solemn oaths, except in those 
instances decreed by the Pope; namely where peace, the 
Faith, or a juridical oath is at stake. . . . If the Brothers 
and Sisters are troubled contrary to their right and privi- 
lege, or by the rulers of the places where they abide, let 
their own prefects together with the council of the Lord 
Bishop resort to measures which may appear to them 
proper.4-3 

From the standpoint of law no objection could be raised 
against this regulation. For though the Tertiaries lived 
in the world, they were Religious in the full sense of the 
term, and hence subject only to ecclesiastical authority. 
The socio-political and religious importance of this meas- 
ure adopted by Francis was simply incalculable. By pro- 
hibiting the Tertiaries to bear arms and to take the military 
oath, feudalism was stricken to the heart; for the latter 
consisted essentially in the oath-bound obligation of the 
vassal to draw arms and to follow his liege lord in strife, 
and war. We understand, then, why the feudal lords, 
from the lowest class even to the crown, declared war 
on the Tertiaries. We understand this all the more clearly 
when we consider the feud which existed at that time 
between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines. The imperial 
faction of the Ghibellines found its main support among 
the feudal lords, while the Papal faction of the Guelphs 
found theirs among the citizenry. The latter severed the 
ties which bound them to the feudal party by entering 
the Third Order, and thus the cause of the Ghibellines 
and with it the entire anti-Papal power of the unfortunate 
Frederic II was given the death-blow. 

The reaction against the imperial power set in at Faenza 


FRANCISCANPEACEMOVEMENT 293 


only a few months after the foundation of the Third 
Order. The citizens of that city had always favored the 
Guelphs, and in consequence were made to suffer griev- 
ously at the hands of their Ghibelline masters. As early 
as 1221 large numbers of these citizens entered the Third 
Order, prompted undoubtedly by the desire of freeing 
themselves from the yoke of fealty and from the obliga- 
tion of bearing arms for their feudal lords. When these 
sought to employ compulsory measures, the Tertiaries 
appealed to the Bishop of Rimini, who in turn referred 
the matter to Pope Honorius III. On December 16, 1221, 
the Pope declared that the Tertiaries were to be exempt 
from the oath of fealty, and that it was the Bishop’s duty, 
in virtue of the apostolic power conferred upon him, to 
protect the Tertiaries against the lords who attacked their 
rights.?? 

Upon this the faithful in large numbers clamored for 
admission into the Third Order. In a few decades half 
of Italy, not to mention other lands, were gathered about 
the religious and democratic standard of St. Francis of 
Assisi. A contemporary, writing of a secular cleric, in- 
spired by envy against the Mendicants and their Tertiaries, 
complains: “Not only do the Franciscans and Dominicans 
reap what they have not sown, and intrude into ecclesi- 
astical dignities; not only do they presume unto them- 
selves the conferring of the sacraments of Baptism and 
Penance, of Extreme Unction, and the burial of the dead 
in their own cemeteries: in order to destroy our rights 
completely, and to turn away the faithful from their 
allegiance to us, they have now founded two new brother- 
hoods, and have received men and women into its ranks 
in such masses, that there is hardly a person whose name 
is not inscribed in the one or the other.” 2° In all proba- 
bility “we may assume that the great majority of religious 
organizations also belonged to the Third Order [of St. 
Francis].”?! By far the greater number of Tertiaries 
were citizens, peasants and artisans; but many members 


204% EHE PD AGS PO ia sy leh: Reem aa 


of all ranks of nobility, some even of royal blood, like- 
wise sought to become disciples of the “Poor Little Man” 
by joining the Third Order. King Louis IX of France, 
and the royal princess, Elizabeth of Hungary, are but the 
most noted and celebrated among them. Following their 
example, as Humbert de Romanis, an eye-witness tes- 
tifies, “many men and women of distinguished birth, espe- 
cially in the provinces of Italy, embraced this mode of 
life 

For a time many of the feudal lords had still endeavored 
to check this movement by striving to impose their yoke 
upon them. But the Tertiaries were protected by the 
strong arm of the Church. Upon the death of Honorius 
III, Gregory IX ascended the Papal throne. As Cardinal 
Hugolino, he had assisted his friend and protégé Francis 
in organizing the Third Order. Two months after his 
election, on May 26, 1227,3* he addressed an encyclical 
letter to all the Bishops of Italy, and ordained that the 
“Penitents” be protected against those in power, and the 
fraternity be encouraged by all possible means. He com- 
plains that the lords everywhere strive to coerce the 
Tertiaries to swear allegiance to them, to bear arms, and 
to assume public offices. He decrees that they are, how- 
ever, to be free from all these obligations, and bound only 
to pay the customary taxes and tributes as other citizens.?® 
In another letter, dated March 30, 1228, he inveighs 
against those lords and magistrates who molest the 
Tertiaries with their oaths and a thousand other petty 
annoyances in order thus to avenge themselves for the 
refusal to take the oath of fealty. In the years 1230, 
1231 and 1234 the Bishops are merely enjoined to uphold 
the rights and privileges of the Tertiaries in regard to 
the feudal powers.?" Thereafter similar instructions cease. 
It appears that henceforth the feudal lords had yielded 
to the existing conditions and acknowledged the rights of 
the Tertiaries. 

Considering the above mentioned facts, we must admit 


FRANCISCANPEACEMOVEMENT 29 


that St. Francis achieved the stupendous task of intro- 
ducing a social reform far-reaching in its scope, without 
in any way disturbing the peace; or rather that the peace 
movement begun by him paved the way for a social reform 
of the widest influence, and that this social reform was 
truly a work in the interest of peace of first magnitude. 

That St. Francis was a social reformer, whose equal 
the world has not seen since the time of Christ, is gener- 
ally admitted by the authorities of various camps and 
convictions.38& He was not, however, a socialist, much less 
a revolutionary. There is no doubt that he enthusiastically 
espoused the cause of the oppressed and enslaved people. 
Asıde from the fact that in particular instances he guided 
‘the efforts of the Minores to a happy issue, the Franciscan 
conception of poverty and humility, of universal brother- 
hood, was in itself a powerful factor in promoting the 
cause of the people; ?” indeed, it has been said very appro- 
priately, that the Franciscan rule was the consecration, 
and in a manner the cradle of democracy, especially in 
halve 

But St. Francis was far from agitating the people 
against the wealthy and governing classes, or from preach- 
ing the overthrow of the existing social order. We know 
that on the contrary, in spite of his preference for the 
poor and the little ones, he esteemed the rich and honored 
those of superior rank.4! It was not wealth which he 
impugned, but the overvaluation of wealth, as well as the 
prevalent contempt of the poor and of poverty. It was 
not power and authority which he condemned, but its 
abuse ; the oppression of the people, the exploiting of the 
subjects, the misuse of the feudal system for petty war- 
fare and for the law of might. In a word, it was the 
social and the socio-political evils which the apostle of 
peace impugned; and the means he employed to abolish 
them was the mutual adjustment of wealth and poverty, 
of power and submission, and the equalization of master 


296 DIESEL. Ha Deb AC Ie Sy @ ea ee Peles 


and servant, of lord and vassal, by the law of Christian 
brotherhood and charity. 

- Even the regulation forbidding the oath of allegiance 
and the bearing of arms, so incisive in its effect, served 
this noble purpose. Francis entertained no scheme of 
revolt against the lords, nor did he desire to obstruct the 
lawful defense of home and country. The former is out 
of the question, because he commanded the Tertiaries to 
pay taxes and tribute to the lords, and frequently acted 
the role of peacemaker between the lords and their liege- 
men.** The latter likewise, because prior to, as well as 
after, his conversion he was an ardent patriot of his 
native city,*? a staunch lover of his fatherland as no other 
“Gl pit italiano dei santi e il pit santo degli italian.’ He 
issued the prohibition forbidding the bearing of arms 
merely in reference to wars of aggression. By this means 
he endeavored, as far as he was able, to prevent the abuse 
of might, and in the last instance to prevent all war in 
general. 

Indeed, an incomparably far-sighted and far-reaching 
plan! It surpassed in many ways the hitherto customary 
“Peace of God” (Treuga Dei), which forbade acts of 
violence or the bearing of arms on certain days of the 
week and at particular seasons of the year.** The Treuga 
Dei which St. Francis contemplated, admitted no excep- 
tions and no interruption; its meaning and purpose were 
akin to that eternal peace of God, which the Saviour 
praised so highly in the Gospel: “Blessed are the peace- 
makers, for they shall be called the children of God.” * 

This peace program should be fostered and realized by 
the members of the Third Order to the fullest of their 
ability, and this Ideal of peace the members of the First 
Order should keep constantly before the eyes of the world 
by means of their daily apostolate: the greatest peace 
movement ever launched, and the most sublime peace Ideal 
ever proclaimed ! 


GIA PH Rex 


BEIIIIERSNEISEANSABOSIKOLATE 


HE peace movement is only a part of the extensive 

program of the Franciscan apostolate. The latter 

occupied such a prominent place in the life of Fran- 
cis that he is honored with the title: “The apostolic man 
Francis.” Thus his first disciples styled him ;! the Church 
herself from the very beginning glorified him thus,? and 
as such he lives forever in the grateful memory of all 
ages. We of the twentieth century perhaps no longer 
find anything extraordinary in this distinction. For the 
contemporaries of Francis, however, it was something 
unprecedented that the Founder of an Order should dedi- 
cate himself and his followers to the apostolate. 

We emphasize: the apostolate in its proper sense. It 
was not simply a question of the ordinary pastoral care 
of souls, or rather, there was no question whatever of this. 
Far from binding himself to a definite place and a definite 
spiritual charge, Francis wished, in imitation of the 
apostles, that the Order founded by him should regard 
the whole world as its field of activity, and in this field 
devote all its faculties to the upbulding of the Faith at 
home as well as to the conversion of the infidels, This 
he understood as apostolic activity, and this was essentially 
the nature of the apostolic life which he had in mind. 

1. The ancient monks no doubt also regarded their voca- 
tion as an apostolic one. They, however, wished to ex- 
press thereby that the monk, as follower of the apostles, 
was bound not only to the observance of the command- 
ments, but also of the evangelical counsels.? That he was 


297 


2988 THEIDEALS OF ST. FRANCIS 


bound like the apostles to labor at large and to exercise 
the apostolate in the proper sense of the term, never 
occurred to them. St. Columba alone included missionary 
activity in his program.* In his rule, however, there is 
no mention made of preaching.’ If he and his disciples 
nevertheless gained for themselves lasting merits by the 
preaching of the Gospel, it must be ascribed mainly to 
the Irish tradition, according to which the monasteries 
were to be centers of pastoral activity. The same holds 
good in regard to the Anglo-Saxon Benedictine abbeys, 
from which Boniface and his disciples came forth. 

The Benedictine rule, as such, shut off the monk com- 
pletely from the world, and thereby rendered missionary 
activity on his part impracticable. Besides this, the large 
majority of the inmates of the abbeys were lay-brothers. 
Clerics, not to mention priests, were rare exceptions, and 
were received reluctantly, and just as reluctantly admitted 
to Holy Orders. A monk who was at the same time a 
priest, was not permitted to preach even in the monastery, 
much less to seculars. The sole functions allowed him 
were various blessings and the celebration of Mass.® For 
the rest, he was obliged to divide his time as the other 
monks between choir duty and labor. 

In later centuries priest-monks became more numerous, 
and began to exercise the office of preaching in their own 
churches. When the Clerics Regular, who dated from 
the eleventh century, complained of this, the Abbot Rupert 
of Deutz (died about 1130) wrote an apology of 
monasticism under the title: “On the Truly Apostolic 
Life.” He explains therein that a priest-monk receives 
with ordination the right to preach and baptize; but al- 
though the exercise of these rights makes him more 
conformable to the apostles, yet the essence of apostolic 
life consists simply in his following Christ by the 
observance of the three vows. In consequence, every 
true monk, though he observe but the latter, is a true 
apostle, just as the apostles were, on the other hand, true 


THEFRANCISCANAPOSTOLATE 29 


monks.’ The apostolate as applied to preaching was 
therefore foreign to the rule of St. Benedict. The teach- 
ing office was exercised, in consequence, by the monks 
only exceptionally, and then only within the walls of the 
monastery,® with the exception of a few instances, when 
on extraordinary occasions, as in the case of St. Bernard, 
the monks directed their powerful appeals to the masses, 
to the astonishment of the whole world.’ 

More than this. Canon law of former centuries flatly 
deprived the monks of the right to preach,!® according to 
the ancient axiom: “Monachus non doctoris habet, sed 
Plangentis oficium.” 1+ A few decades before the appear- 
ance of Francis, Alexander II (1061-1073) decreed: “In 
conformity with the regulation of St. Benedict, we com- 
mand that the monks remain within their monastery ; we 
forbid them to journey through villages, hamlets and 
towns, and demand that they in no wise preach to the 
people.” 12 As late as the middle of the thirteenth century, 
Berthold of Regensburg declares that the Cistercians and 
other monks support the Church with their prayers only, 
but the Minorites and Dominicans also with their preach- 
ing.? Not even the Canons Regular or Augustinian 
Clerics devoted themselves to the office of preaching. 
They indeed asserted that among all Religious they alone 
possessed the right to preach. They were, in fact, in- 
cumbents of parishes and benefices.1* They argued that 
the care of souls, and with it, the office of preaching, was 
therefore not only a right but also a duty. But they were 
restricted in every way to these charges. There could be 
no question of exercising missionary activity after the 
manner of the apostles. When therefore St. Dominic, 
who had been an Augustinian Cleric, took up the work 
of preaching, it was said of him that he had changed from 
a cleric to an apostolic man.!?” Humbert de Romanis also 
remarks that the Dominicans had injected an essentially 
new element into the Augustinian rule by assuming the 
office of preaching.1® In the same sense St. Thomas says 


2007) el H- BIT DEAD Se Hv: it ae eae 


of the Benedictines and Augustinians: “Both Orders, 
that of the monks as well as that of the Clerics Regular, 
are destined for the work of the contemplative life,” 17 
not for apostolic activity. 

In contrast hereto, Francis—the same may be said of 
St. Dominic—turned to the labor of the apostolate with 
the same zealous ardor and singleness of purpose with 
which he devoted himself to the apostolic or evangelical 
life18 In this sphere he had forerunners insofar as during 
the twelfth century several itinerant preachers had arisen, 
some in full accord with the authority of the Church, 
others in opposition to her. Among the former may be 
mentioned St. Norbert of Xanten and Robert of Arbris- 
sel; 1%? among the latter Waldus and the Poor Men of 
Lyons.® As late as 1201 the Lombardic Humiliati,?! and 
in 1207 the so-called Catholic Poor Men,?? had obtained 
permission to preach from Innocent III. 

Shortly after, Francis likewise resolved to devote him- 
self to the apostolate. The assumption that he was in- 
fluenced in this by his forerunners appears well founded. 
And yet it was not so. We are acquainted with the senti- 
ments of St. Francis at the beginning of his conversion 
well enough to declare that he was led to choose the 
apostolic life and apostolic labor neither by the example of 
others, nor by personal choice, nor by the need of the 
times. The determining factor was solely the call from 
above. 

When he set out on the new life following his con- 
version, he was ruled by the one, great idea of spiritual 
knighthood. He would be a knight of Christ; he would 
serve the Most High Lord of heaven valiantly and with 
every fiber of his being.*? But he was as yet completely 
in the dark as to the form and manner of this service. Of 
one thing he was, however, certain: that he was called to 
an active, not merely contemplative, life. For every true 
knight was reminded: ‘Heroism will not rest idly at 
home, but go abroad and labor and seek everywhere deeds 


ree RANETSE AN ACPO OAD EY sor 


of arms, and adventure.’ ** In accordance herewith, 
Francis devoted himself for the time being to the service 
of the lepers, a service well worthy of a true knight of 
Christ.2° Yet not even then could he rest content. An 
irresistible impulse stormed within him to announce to 
the whole world the greatness and the loving kindness of 
his Lord. He wandered through fields and woods, singing 
the praises of the Most High after the manner and in the 
tongue of the troubadours. When he was seized one day 
by robbers and was asked for his name, he straightway 
gave answer: “I am the herald of the Great King, what is 
it to your’ 26 Kings and emperors had their heralds, 
whose duty it was to announce the tournaments and con- 
tests of the knights and other weighty decrees.”” The 
herald of the Lord Most High was to announce the great- 
ness and the works of his Lord; wherefore preachers were 
commonly styled “heralds of God.” 78 One sees how 
Francis begins to feel the call to an apostolic life dawn 
within him in those hours of profound devotion and high 
enthusiasm. Yet he was far from recognizing this call- 
ing as coming from God. Not daring to make the decision 
himself, he prayed ardently for enlightenment from 
above.?? 

While still in the throes of doubt and uncertainty, he 
one day passed the little church of San Damiano, which 
had almost fallen to ruins. Following the interior call of 
grace, he entered and cast himself on his knees before 
the image of the Crucified, imploring the Saviour with all 
the ardor of his soul to make known His divine will. 
Suddenly he heard from the cross the words sweet and 
distinct: “Francis, dost thou not see My house falling to 
ruins? Go, and restore it.” Bewildered and trembling 
he stammered: “Most willingly, O Lord!” And he forth- 
with set himself to rebuild the ruins of the church.?° That 
Christ had in mind the spiritual House of God, for whom 
He had shed His blood, was as yet hidden to Francis. It 
appeared incomprehensible to him that he was chosen 


302. D FISD ASL DO Passel IER AS We 


to rebuild the Church of Christ throughout the world by 
means of his apostolate.?! 

A long lapse of time intervened before Divine Provi- 
dence finally lifted the veil, behind which the vast field 
of his apostolate stretched forth. We have previously 
made mention of the events which were the decisive factor 
in his calling to the evangelic-apostolic life.2* We are 
forced to touch upon them again in reference to his calling 
to apostolic activity. 

It was in the church of the Portiuncula on February 
24, 1209 (1208). Francis had listened with rapt atten- 
tion to the gospel of the Mass, which contained the 
mission of Christ to the apostles. Deeply moved, he 
begged the priest after the Mass to explain the gospel 
which he had just heard. When he was told that the 
true follower of the apostles should possess neither gold 
nor silver nor money, should take with him neither purse 
nor scrip nor staff, nor wear shoes nor two coats, but, 
stripped of all things, should preach the Kingdom of God 
and penance, he rejoiced exceedingly and exclaimed: 
“This is what I desire, this is what I seek, this is what 
my whole heart craves!’ 33 

Thus, by a bright ray from Heaven his entire course of 
life was lighted up before him. He was to be, as Brother 
Jordan of Giano remarks, “a follower of evangelical 
poverty and at the same time a zealous preacher of the 
Gospel”; °4 his task was the renunciation of the world 
together with the apostolic labor in the world and for the 
world. And both conjointly, apostolic poverty and preach- 
ing, apostolic renunciation and activity, apostolic life and 
labor, were to be equally essential elements in the calling 
of Francis, just as they were essential elements in the 
calling of the apostles, and inseparably bound up in the 
Gospel of the mission. 

Francis hastened to comply with the Gospel without 
delay, cast from him staff and purse and shoes, put on a 
poor, rough garment ®° and “began to preach penance to 


debit RA NTSC AN POSTER TR 7303 


all with ardor and rejoicing of spirit, edifying his hearers 
by his simple speech and generous manner. His word 
was as a flaming fire, penetrating the inmost heart and 
filling the minds of all with wonder.” °° 

The impression made by this new apostle was so over- 
powering that the people were not only converted in 
masses,?” but several men of noble and generous mind 
resolved to cast their lot with the poor preacher and to 
make his life and purpose their own. Francis led them 
to the nearest church and had the Gospel book opened 
before them, in order to assure themselves that they 
were also chosen to the life and labor of the apostles. 
Thrice the holy book was opened at random, and thrice 
their wondering eyes beheld the words relating the mis- 
sion of the apostles. The leader then turned to his disci- 
ples and said: “Brothers, this is our life and rule, and 
the life and rule of all those who would join our company ; 
go, then, and do as you have heard.” 38 They went, sold 
all their possessions, and gave the money to the poor; 
they then set out on their first missionary journey, under 
the leadership of Francis. 

The new brotherhood counted at first but four mem- 
bers. According to the injunction given to the apostles, 
they went forth two and two. Francis with Brother Giles 
took the road to the March of Ancona, Brother Sylvester 
of Assisi with Bernard of Quintavalle turned in another 
direction. The manner in which they exercised the apos- 
tolate was indeed singular. Francis journeyed on, sing- 
ing with a loud and clear voice, as was his wont, lyrics 
in the French tongue, sounding the praises of the Most 
High and His boundless mercy. Whomever he met on the 
highways and byways, in villages and towns, he urged to 
love and fear God, and to do penance for his sins. 
Brother Giles, however, admonished the hearers to heed 
Francis and to believe him, for he counseled them well.3? 

When the brothers met again after a short space of 
time, four others joined their company.*® Without delay 


304. SW PH BV D BSL SS. Bop er RZ ies 


Francis reminded them of their apostolic vocation in the 
words: “Let us consider well our vocation, most beloved 
brothers, and bear in mind that God in His mercy has 
called us unto the salvation not only of our souls but of 
many, that we go through the world exhorting all nations 
by word and example to do penance for their sins and to 
observe the commandments of God. Fear not if ye are 
regarded as mean and contemptible and ignorant, but 
preach penance with courage and simplicity; trusting 
that the Lord, who has overcome the world, will speak in 
you and through you by His Spirit to move all to be con- 
verted to Him and to observe His commandments. You 
will find some believing, kind and meek, who receive you 
and your words with joy; and you will find still more 
unbelieving, proud and godless men, who will mock 
you and resist your words. Resolve therefore in your 
hearts to accept all things patiently and humbly.” 41 

Having tried them for a while in their new vocation, he 
sent them out with the words: “Go, most beloved, two by 
two into the world and preach to men peace and penance 
unto the remission of sins. Be patient in sufferings, con- 
vinced that the Lord will fulfill His promise and His 
design. If ye are asked, answer humbly. Bless those who 
persecute and abuse you, and thank those who calumniate 
you, since for all this the kingdom of heaven is prepared 
unto us.” 44 

The brothers accepted with joy the commands of obedi- 
ence; they cast themselves at the feet of the Saint, eager 
to labor for the conversion of the world, and to go whither- 
soever he might wish to send them. Francis embraced 
each one and said: “Cast thy care upon the Lord, He will 
preserve thee.” The plan of the mission was quickly out- 
lined: Francis drew on the ground the figure of the cross, 
with its arms pointing to the four quarters of the globe, 
and sent out the brothers in these directions. Brother 
Bernard and Brother Giles chose Compostella in Spain as 
their goal; the rest selected other places.42 Whenever the 


TERETERANE ISCANAROSTOTAT E305 


Friars came to a church or a cross, they knelt down and 
greeted their Lord and Saviour with the words they had 
learned from the lips of their Father: “We adore Thee, 
O Most Holy Lord Jesus, and praise Thee here and in all 
the churches which are in the whole world, for by Thy 
holy cross Thou hast redeemed the world.** When enter- 
ing a city, a village, a hamlet or a house, they gave the 
greeting of peace, and summoned all to fear and love the 
Creator of heaven and earth, and to keep His command- 
ments. Toward friend and foe alike they were meek and 
kind, edifying all and winning all for God by word and 
deed. After a time they returned to their meeting place 
at Portiuncula, seeking recollection in prayer and medita- 
tion, relating their experiences and successes, and 
strengthening each other thus to renewed labor in the 
vineyard of the Lord.*° 

These first apostolic attempts appear in all respects 
similar to those of the apostles. The complete renuncia- 
tion of all earthly things, their mission into all quarters 
of the world, the command to preach penance, the return 
of the disciples to their Master *°—everything is in full 
accord, with the exception of the power of miracles, which 
Christ imparted to His apostles. The plan of Francis 
obviously tended to imitate the activity of the apostles in 
every respect. 

In the meantime the number of the disciples of the 
Poverello had increased to twelve. Francis now realized 
the necessity of obtaining the approval of the Church for 
their mode of life, and the formal Mission of the Church 
for his apostolate. “Brothers,” he said, “I see that God 
deigns to increase our brotherhood. Let us then go to our 
Mother, the holy Roman Church, and relate to the Pope 
what the Lord has begun to do through us, that we may 
continue what we have begun, according to his will and 
command.” #7 Their pilgrimage to Rome became another 
missionary journey, similar to those preceding. Im the 


¥ 


506 Med Ea DAS CO aa tol eee 


Eternal City they unexpectedly found in Cardinal John 
Colonna of St. Paul a powerful advocate. The latter 


beheld in the despised poor man of Assisi the future 


champion of God’s cause, and introduced him to the Papal 
Court with the words: “I have found a most perfect man, 
who desires to live after the manner of the Gospel and to 
observe evangelical perfection; through him God intends, 
as I believe, to renew the Church in the whole world.” 48 

Innocent III himself had beheld in a vision a man who 
supported the Church of the Lateran with his shoulders, 
and when Francis appeared before him he exclaimed: 
“Truly, this is the man who will support the Church of 
Christ by deed and word.” *#® Having tested the constancy 
of the twelve Friars, he approved their rule and their 
apostolate with the words: “Go, then, brothers, with the 
blessing of God, and preach penance to all as God will 
deign to inspire you. And as soon as the Almighty has 
blessed you in numbers and grace, report to Us, and We 
shall concede to you even greater things and commit even 
greater tasks to you with fuller confidence.” 5° The Pope 
added expressly that all the disciples of Francis should be 
entitled to exercise the apostolate in the entire world, if 
only they received the permission to preach from their 
Founder.’! He then admitted the twelve to the tonsure, 
receiving them into the ranks of the clergy,®? who alone 
were entitled to exercise the office of preaching.’? 

Herein lay the decisive and far-reaching importance of 
the Papal Mission. Until then the men of Assisi had 
spoken to the people only brief, impressive admonitions to 
do penance and to amend their lives, as the Three Com- 
panions expressly declare.°* it had been a purely lay 
apostolate, which could be exercised even without formal 
authorization of the Church. “From now on, however,” 
the same biographers continue, ‘‘Blessed Francis exercised 
the office of preaching in the fuller and wider sense; for 
he was now a preacher strengthened by apostolic author- 
ity.” °° With this agrees also the characterization which 


DEBEIPFRANGDSCANFAPOSHODATE 1307 


the Three Companions give to his apostolic activity. °® 
Thomas of Celano is likewise in full accord when he 
pens the following inimitable description: 

“The most brave knight of Christ, Francis, traversed 
the cities and hamlets announcing the kingdom of God, not 
in the persuasive words of human wisdom, but in the word 
and power of the Holy Ghost, preaching peace, teaching 
salvation and penance unto the remission of sins. Sus- 
tained by the apostolic authority granted him, he bore him- 
self in all things with perfect trust, without flattery and 
vain eloquence. He understood not how to palliate the 
faults of certain of his hearers, but attacked them fear- 
lessly ; far from defending the life of sinners, he impugned 
it with keen reproof. Since he had proved by his own 
actions what he required of others, and therefore feared 
no rebuke, he preached the truth with such courage that 
even the most learned men, however great their fame 
and dignity, admired his words and were seized with 
wholesome fear at his appearance. The men pressed 
about him, the women flocked to him, the clerics hastened 
to him, even the Religious sought eagerly to see and hear 
the man of God, who appeared to them as a man from 
another world. Every age and sex hastened to behold 
the wonders which God worked through His servant in 
the world. Everyone, whether he met Francis in person, 
or knew him only from report, everyone was convinced 
that a new light from heaven had been sent to the earth, 
to dispel the night of darkness which had sunk upon 
almost the entire world, so that no one found a remedy. 
For such an abysmal godlessness and such a deadening 
indifference had overcome almost all men, that they could 
scarcely be awakened from the death of their old and 
deeply rooted vices. Then Francis shone forth like a 
glittering star in darkest night, and spread as a radiant 
dawn over the darkness. Thus it came to pass that soon 
the face of the earth was renewed and showed a joyous 
mien, without even a trace of the former ugliness. Gone 


308 3 SI4EREYBDIEAUEISPOHEZIFER FIRE rl 


was the long drought, and on the swaying field the grain 
ripened unto the harvest. The hitherto unpruned vine 
put forth its sprouts full of heavenly odor, unfolded of 
its own strength sweet-smelling blossoms, and matured 
into the fruit of honesty and virtue. Everywhere prayer 
and praise resounded, so that many, because of the life 
and teaching of the most blessed Father Francis, renounced 
the care of earthly things, came to know themselves and 
aspired only after the love and reverence of the Creator. 
Many of the people, nobles and citizens, clerics and 
laics, moved by divine inspiration, began to join the holy 
Francis and desired to serve as knights under his direc- 
tion and leadership. All these the Holy Spirit, as a 
stream overflowing with heavenly grace, bedewed with 
His extraordinary gifts and adorned the soil of their 
hearts with the flowers of virtue; for he was the chosen 
workmaster, by whose example, rule and doctrine, and 
under whose standard, which he carried aloft, the Church 
is renewed, and the threefold body of knights leads the 
triumphal march of the elect. But to all others likewise 
he marked the course of life and pointed out to men and 
women of every station the way of salvation.” °? 

At first only Umbria and central Italy experienced the 
blessings of the Franciscan apostolate. It was only excep- 
tionally and temporarily that the Franciscan preachers 
penetrated into more distant regions. The primary and 
immediate need was to prove and train the few laborers 
at the disposal of Francis in this restricted field. Yet 
Francis never for a moment forgot that the whole world 
was the field of action for himself and his Friars. Both 
are equally astounding: the immense power of the propa- 
ganda by means of which the Franciscan Ideal gained 
numerous workers in such a short time,?® and the incom- 
parable daring with which these were constantly placed 
in the service of the world-wide apostolate. 

The Three Companions testify that at the very first 
Chapters of the Order the chief efforts of St. Francis were 


THHZEBRFZUNGES GANA ROS TOGA TE 309 


directed not only toward the interior upbuilding of the 
Order by inculcating the faithful observance of the rule, 
but also toward the extension of its activity by dispatching 
preaching Friars into all provinces.°® In 1216 Bishop 
Jacques de Vitry writes that the new apostles had con- 
quered the whole of Italy, from Lombardy to Apulia and 
Sicily, and that everywhere the blessings of this apostolate 
were being felt.°° | 

Already at the Pentecost Chapter of 1217, was begun 
the intensified march into the northern countries. Francis 
placed himself at the head of the missionaries destined 
for France. However, his journey was unexpectedly 
ended at Florence, where Cardinal Hugolino persuaded 
him not to leave Italy for the time in the interests of the 
Order. In his place Brother Pacificus, the “King of 
Verses,” was commissioned to travel beyond the Alps with 
several companions.®? This expedition unfortunately 
failed of its purpose at the time, because both bishops and 
people suspected the Friars of being members of the 
Albigensian sect.°® In 1219 a second band of Friars set 
out for France. This time they carried a Papal letter of 
recommendation directed to all archbishops, abbots, priors 
and prelates of the entire kingdom. In this document the 
Friars are recommended to the kind favor of all friends, 
because “Brother Francis and his companions of the 
Order of Minors have renounced the world and all worldly 
things, live after the manner approved by the Roman 
Church, and journey from place to place after the example 
of the apostles in order to preach the word of God.” * 

At the same Chapter of 1219 Francis dispatched mis- 
sionaries into all the other provinces of the European con- 
tinent.° The German-speaking countries alone resisted 
this invasion. The Friars, numbering nearly sixty, who 
had made their way into these countries under the leader- 
ship of John of Penna, were regarded as Lombardic here- 
tics, and were forced to return to Italy under unspeakable 


ator. HE ER UD ERBE Sy OSB eh EI IR A NECA Liss 


hardships.°® However, after a few years, in 1221, Francis 
made a second attempt. At his request ninety Friars, 
“filled with zeal for the cause of God and the salvation 
of souls, and animated by the desire for martyrdom,” #7 
volunteered to journey with the Provincial, Caesar of 
Speyer, to the country of the dreaded Teutons.°®® Jordan 
of Giano, who accompanied the band, was soon able to 
report a tremendous activity on the part of the German 
Province.°® The British insular kingdom still remained. 
In 1224 the invasion of the Isle was attempted, and in a 
short while the English Province excelled as the model 
of all provinces.” 

Thus the Friars had become active apostles throughout 
Christian Europe during the lifetime of the Saint. The 
prophecy of Cardinal John of St. Paul, that Francis was 
to renew the Church of God in the whole world,” was 
gloriously fulfilled. Thomas of Celano reviews the 
apostolate exercised by Francis himself or by his sons in 
his usual graphic manner: “At a time when the evan- 
gelical doctrine was everywhere neglected, Francis was 
sent by God to give testimony unto the truth in the whole 
world after the example of the apostles. Thus it came 
to pass that by his word he branded all wisdom of the 
world as obvious folly, and by the simplicity of his preach- 
ing led all men to the true wisdom of God under the 
leadership of Christ. For, the new evangelist of these 
latter days has watered as a stream of paradise the whole 
earth with the waters of the Gospel, and has preached 
the way of the Son of God and the true doctrine by word 
and deed. In him and through him the earth received 
the unexpected glad tidings and the new message of 
salvation ; the dying shoot of the old religion was quick- 
ened by him unto new, vigorous life. A refreshing spirit 
streamed into the hearts of the elect, and the unction of 
salvation was poured out into their midst, when the 
Servant and Saint of Christ blazed forth as a star in the 


erie PRAMNEISGAMNIAIEISEDEIA DE art 


heavens. . . . While still living amongst us sinners, he 
wandered and preached throughout the whole world.” 7? 

2. Not content with the world-wide apostolate among 
the faithful, Francis had included also the converston of 
the infidels in his program from the very beginning. To 
live and die for the spread of the Faith, had always been 
his most ardent desire.“? This we understand without 
difficulty if we bear in mind the chivalrous spirit of the 
Saint on the one hand, and on the other the flaming 
enthusiasm of Christian knighthood for the Faith. 

To battle for the Faith and for the Church against the 
infidels, and in particular against Mohammedanism, the 
ancient arch-enemy of the Christian name, was the sub- 
lime goal of the knight in the days of the Crusades. The 
Crusades were in fact a gigantic conflict, in which the 
religious enthusiasm of Christian knighthood entered the 
lists with the religious fanaticism of the Saracens. 
Marked with the cross, the symbol of their common en- 
deavor, and with the cry “God wills it!”, the Crusaders 
left home and country, bore with heroic fortitude the most 
dreadful privations, and marched into the bloody battle 
as if it were a nuptial feast. All this in order to deliver 
the Holy Places from the grasp of the infidel and to either 
convert or destroy a godless paganism. The spread of 
Christianity, the conquest of the whole world for Christ 
and the Church, was the motto and the battle-cry of every 
true knight."* Happy the one who was fortunate to give 
his life in this holy struggle! Huis was in fact the crown 
of martyrdom. It is significant of the character of 
Christian knighthood, when Konrad sings of the Paladins 
of Charlemagne in the Rolandslied: 


Their knightly heart was chaste and pure, 
E’en death they gladly would endure, 

That God show mercy to their soul. 

This e’er their most desired goal 

As martyrs all for God to die, 

For heaven’s glory thus to vie.” 


312, DEI BEST DISAT DO Sr ERS ER 
And again: 
Nor fire feared they nor the sword. 
In truth ’twas granted by the Lord 
What they desired with ardent glow, 
The while they lived on earth below: 


Achieved the martyr’s bright renown 
And everlasting heaven’s crown.‘® 


We have seen how vividly the Rolandssage ever dwelt 
in the mind of Francis ™ and how perfectly he embodied 
the ideal of Christian knighthood. No wonder then that 
he was fired with the ambition to sacrifice life and blood 
for the conversion of the infidels, and of the Saracens 
in particular. 

The Assisian Knight, however, understood the apostolate 
among the infidels in an essentially different manner than 
the Crusaders. Their sole effort, their heroic struggle 
and death, was devoted to the apostolate of the sword, 
forced upon them by the fanatical hate of the infidels, 
and yet freely chosen. Just as the sword had often, 
indeed, too often, in the early Middle Ages been the 
means of missionizing, so now the Crusades were launched 
to conquer Mohammedanism by military, material and 
political means, and to make it amenable to Christianity. 
Francis on the contrary spiritualized the idea of the 
Crusades. ‘With his eyes fixed on the example of Christ 
and the apostles, he went forth as a preacher of the Gospel 
of peace, of penance, of grace and of truth. 

Hardly three years after the foundation of the Order 
(1212-1213), that is, at a time when the Friars had not 
yet gone far beyond the boundaries of Umbria, he 
launched his mission among the infidels. Thomas of 
Celano lays stress on this: “Glowing with divine love 
and burning with the desire for martyrdom, the blessed 
Father Francis set out in the direction of Syria, in order 
to preach the Faith and penance to the Saracens and 
other infidels.” “8 A severe storm, however, threw him 


BERIIE ER FAEN EG DS GAREN DVO Ag Toast 


with his companion upon the coast of Slavonia, and he 
was forced to return to Italy by way of Ancona.” 

His hope of reaching the stronghold of oriental Islam 
having been shattered, he shortly afterward (1213-1215) 
fared forth on foot for the Moroccan kingdom of the 
Saracens in Spain, passing through Lombardy and south- 
ern France. His biographer again stresses the purely 
evangelical character of his crusade: “The servant of 
God, Francis, now leaves the sea, traverses the land, works 
it with the plow of his word, sows the seed of life and 
brings forth manifold fruit. His goal was martyrdom; 
a great yearning for it burned in his heart. The road 
led to Morocco, in order to preach the Gospel to the Sultan 
Miramolin and his followers. He was driven forward by 
such desire, that he at times left his companion, and, as 
one carried away by the spirit, ran before him, in order 
the sooner to accomplish his purpose. But it pleased God 
to show mercy to me and to many. For when Francis 
had already reached Spain, the Lord stood in his way, 
sending him an illness, so that he could go no farther, and 
thus recalled him from the journey he had undertaken.” ®° 

But even then Francis was not to be discouraged. After 
he had dispatched Friars to the distant countries of Europe 
at the Pentecost Chapter of 1219, he set out with Brother 
Peter Catanii for Damiette, in Egypt, where the army of 
the Crusaders battled with the hosts of Sultan Malek-al- 
Khamil. “It should not appear,” remarks Jordan of 
Giano, “as if the Blessed Father sought rest, while he sent 
out the brothers to suffer and to labor for the sake of 
Christ; on the contrary, he wished to go before all on 
the way of Christ in the generosity of his soul. When 
he therefore sent out his sons to the preaching of the 
Gospel, which was beset with so many perils, he himself 
braved the dangers of the sea, reached the infidels, and 
hastened to the Sultan.” 8! Truly a hazardous under- 
taking, since the Sultan had placed a prize on the head of 
every Christian.®® Francis, however, bore himself with 


314 I THEIIDEATSOFSTIER AN Gis 


such meekness and humility, and at the same time with 
such courage and holy daring, that the tyrant not only 
did not suffer any harm to come to him, but listened will- 
ingly to his words, and allowed him to preach the Christian 
Faith. But as soon as he became aware that Francis 
attacked the faith of Islam, he had him escorted back to 
the camp of the Christians with military honors. Again 
Francis had failed to realize his burning desire to suffer 
martyrdom for the Faith.°® 

After his return to Italy, he began to put the final 
touches to the earlier rule. It contains two chapters on 
the work of the apostolate, the one (chap. 17) dealing 
with preaching to the faithful, the other (chap. 16) with 
preaching “to the Saracens and other infidels.” ® Two 
years later, he wrote the final rule, in which we find these 
chapters in briefer form, but with the same content.® 
Regarding the apostolate among the infidels, Francis 
decrees for all times: “Let all the brothers who by 
divine inspiration desire to go amongst the Saracens and 
other infidels, ask leave therefor from their provincial 
ministers. But the ministers must give permission to go 
to none except those whom they see are fitted to be 
sent.” 86 Hereby mission work among the infidels is pro- 
claimed as an essential element of the Franciscan Ideal 
and of Franciscan activity. 

Still more, Francis regarded missionary activity among 
the heathens as the noblest and highest task of the Order. 
When speaking of the various obediences, that is, of the 
tasks undertaken by the Friars under obedience, he said: 
“The most sublime obedience, in which fiesh and blood 
have no part, consists in this, that one go among the 
infidels by divine inspiration, be it for the salvation of 
our neighbor, or from desire for martyrdom. To request 
this obedience from the superiors, is above all pleasing 
to God.” 27 

In the beginning Francis directed his attention princi- 
pally to the missions among the Saracens, because Islam 


ITERIBRANGISENHN AR OSTORATE 215 


was at that time the most formidable enemy of Christen- 
dom and threatened Europe from the East, the South, 
and the West. Not only did Francis himself set out to 
preach the Christian Faith to the Saracens, he time and 
again appointed new Friars to this mission. Brother Giles 
was sent at a very early date to Tunis.®® In 1218 he 
sent a band of missionaries under the leadership of Brother 
Elias of Bombarone to Syria.°® At the time that Francis 
was with the Crusaders at Damiette (1219), a considerable 
number of Friars were active in the various cities of the 
Syrian sultanate.? 

Contemporary with this oriental mission, a second was 
attempted among the Moors in Spain and Morocco. The 
five missionaries: Bernard, Peter, Otto, Adjutus and 
Accursius preached in the then Saracen city of Seville, 
and after suffering the most cruel tortures in that city, 
they were finally beheaded in Morocco on January 16, 
1220, by Sultan Miramolin himself.?! The joy of Francis 
over their martyrdom was as great as if he himself had 
obtained this honor and happiness. Now he knew that he 
had had five true Friars Minor, he exclaimed when he 
received the message. And turning in the direction of 
Portugal, he greeted and blessed the monastery of 
Alenquer, whence the martyrs had set forth.?? Fired by 
the example of these Moroccan martyrs and by the 
miracles that accompanied the return of their bodies, the 
noble Portuguese youth, Don Fernando, later on Anthony 
of Padua, resolved in 1220 to enter the Order, and to 
volunteer for the African missions.?® One year later 
(1221), the Friars: Daniel, Samuel, Domnus, Leo, Hugo- 
linus, Nicolaus and Angelus set out for the Moroccan 
sultanate and shed their blood on the peninsula of Ceuta 
for the love of Christ.*4 

The success of these and other heroic sacrifices was, 
however, small. Bishop Jacques de Vitry, who witnessed 
the labors of the Friars among the Mohammedans, writes: 
“The Saracens admire the humility and perfection of the 


316, (VT) RES DS EAS Sy Olly Siar. SORTA NEG 


Friars Minor, receive them kindly and furnish their liveli- 
hood, wherever they appear as fearless preachers... . 
They even listen willingly to their preaching on the 
Christian Faith, until they begin to attack the deceitful 
and perfidious doctrines of Mohammed. _ From that 
moment they cruelly beat the missionaries and drive them 
from their cities.” 9 The same hopeless experience, which 
has been repeated for the last seven centuries, already 
marked the pretentious beginnings of the Franciscan 
missions among the Saracens: the Moslems are converted 
only in the most rare cases. 

The Franciscan missionaries therefore turned their at- 
tention more and more to the conversion of other infidels. 
Only a few years after the death of St. Francis, they 
developed an exceedingly fruitful activity in various 
oriental mission fields, among the schismatics as well as 
among the heathens;%® even before the middle of the 
thirteenth century they penetrated into the very heart 
of the Mongolian empires in India and China.®’ In the 
course of this century we find Franciscan missionaries in 
almost all countries of the then known globe.?® Dominic 
de Gubernatis prefaces his history of the Franciscan mis- 
sions with the words: “I set out upon a vast ocean, the 
description of the glorious as well as numerous labors, 
sufferings and martyrdoms which the Friars Minor have 
endured for the defense and the spread of the Catholic 
Faith throughout the world.” % 

This magnificent spirit of sacrifice and the restless 
energy displayed by the sons of St. Francis throughout 
the centuries and in all fields of missionary endeavor, 
need not surprise us. For the Order is by its very nature 
a missionary Order. Francis, among all the Founders 
of Religious Institutes, was the first to include foreign 
missions in his apostolic program. He is the father of 
the modern missionary movement, which he originated 
and which has developed so wonderfully up to the 
present time. Indeed, it may be said without exaggera- 


DIEREIFRADEISEAN AMOS DO THAT Ruan 


tion, that since the days of the apostles he was the first 
herald of faith to emblazon on his banner the conversion 
of the whole world in literal observance of the words of 
Christ: “Go ye into the whole world and preach the 
Gospel to every creature.” 100 

We marvel at this and ask how the Poverello of Assisi 
could venture to include the world-wide activity in the 
home as well as the foreign missions in the program of 
his unworldly Institute. But for Francis this was alto- 
gether patent. Had he not vowed to observe the Gospel 
after the manner of the apostles? Had he not learned 
from this Gospel, that his Master sent him into the mis- 
sionary field, as He had once sent His twelve disciples? 
And furthermore, did he not read in the same Holy Book 
the last Will and Testament of Jesus to the apostles to 
exercise their apostolate without restriction of space or 
time? The will of Christ was therefore clear to him, and 
this will was for the Knight of Christ sovereign law. 
Another reason was added to this: the example of the 
Saviour, who lived and died for the salvation of souls. 
Zeal for souls after the example of Christ, became the 
pole-star of the Franctscan apostolate. 

Thomas of Celano adds weight to this when he writes: 
“Francis again and again declared that nothing was to be 
preferred to this labor for the salvation of souls, because 
Christ had deigned to hang on the cross for them. For 
this the constant wrestling of the Saint in prayer, his 
zeal in preaching, the excess of his good example. He 
would not have deemed himself a friend of Christ had 
he not loved the souls which Christ has loved. This also 
was the impelling cause of his exceeding reverence for 
the teachers of the word of God: he beheld in them the 
associates of Christ, since they exercised with Christ the 
office of saving souls.’ 1° 

It would be erroneous to think that Francis overlooked 
the immense difficulty of combining harmoniously the con- 
templative life of the Order with an active apostolate. 


3188 THEIDEALSOFST.FRANCIS 


On the contrary, this problem engrossed his attention and 
that of his disciples from the first. Shortly after having 
received the permission to preach from Innocent III, they 
deliberated in all earnestness, whether it were not better 
to withdraw into solitude than to live among men and to 
labor for them. Arguments for and against were placed 
in the balance and considered gravely and prayerfully. 
The solution was reached solely by realizing their calling 
to the knightly service of Christ. Christ had lived and 
died for the salvation of souls. The new knight of Christ 
should, then, also live not only unto himself, but unto those 
for whom Christ had died.!0? 

- This zeal for souls, called forth by the example of 
Christ, later on compelled him time and again to persevere 
in his apostolic calling, despite the attraction to a purely 
contemplative life so frequently and so strongly felt. 
Returning one time from his hermitage, he could not rid 
himself for several days of the doubt whether he should 
not relinquish the office of preaching. He finally laid the 
question before his companions, that they might decide. 
“What is your counsel, brothers?” he asked. “What do 
you advise? Shall I devote myself to prayer, or wander 
about as preacher? For I, simple, plain man, incapable 
of speech, have received the grace of prayer in higher 
measure than the grace of preaching. In prayer is profit 
and fulness of grace, in preaching is the distribution of 
the blessings imparted from above. In prayer is the 
cleansing of the inner emotions, union with the one, true, 
and highest Good, growth in virtue; in preaching there 
is soiling of the feet, manifold distraction, relaxation of 
discipline. In prayer we speak with God and hear Him, 
praying we converse with the angels and in a manner lead 
an angelic life; in preaching we must condescend exceed- 
ingly to men, live in their midst as men, think and speak 
and hear as men. One thing, however, is against the 
choice of the purely contemplative life of prayer, and 
appears to outweigh before God all reasons which speak 


DEIERANGIESEAMN ABU SEUNE AT Ei3Io 


for it: the only-begotten Son of God, the most high 
Wisdom, has come down from the bosom of His Father 
for the salvation of men. He wished to be an example 
for the world and to preach to men the word of salvation, 
to redeem them by His precious blood on the cross, to 
renew them in the fountain of regeneration, to nourish 
them with the Eucharist; He kept back nothing which He 
could give generously for our salvation. Since we are to 
follow His example in all things, it appears to me that 
it is most pleasing to God if I interrupt my quietude and 
go forth to labor.” 

Though he pondered this thought for many days, he 
could nevertheless reach no conclusion. He therefore sent 
a messenger to Brother Sylvester, who was engaged in 
incessant prayer on a mountain beyond Assisi, that he 
might obtain God’s answer to this question and impart 
it to him. He also requested St. Clare and her daughters 
to pray for enlightenment in this weighty matter. When 
Brother Masseo, whom he had dispatched as messenger, 
returned, Francis knelt down before him, crossed his 
arms, and asked humbly: “What is the command of my 
Lord Jesus Christ that I should do?” Masseo declared: 
“It is His good pleasure that thou shouldst go forth to 
preach, since God has called thee not only for thy sake, 
but also for the salvation of thy fellow-men.” When 
the Saint heard this answer, he rose immediately and 
fared forth. “He went forth,’ says St. Bonaventure, 
“with such fervor to do the will of God, and ran with 
such haste as if the hand of God upon him had endued 
him with new strength from on high.” 1 

This indefatigable and insatiable zeal henceforth domi- 
nated his whole future life. Thomas of Celano reviews 
and recapitulates it in the pithy sentences: “For eighteen 
years his body had little or no rest, for he traversed 
various and far distant regions, in order that the ever 
willing spirit which dwelt in him, the devout spirit, the 
fervent spirit, might scatter everywhere the seed of the 


320, ST HEIT DER TS OHSTIER UN ERS 


word of God. He filled the whole world with the Gospel 
of Christ in such wise that in one day he visited four 
to five villages or even cities, preaching everywhere the 
kingdom of God, and rendering his whole body a tongue, 
in order to edify his hearers by his example as well as 
by his words.” 1° 

During the last two years of his life, when the holy 
Stigmata prevented him from walking, he had himself 
carried on a poor little beast through cities and towns in 
order to animate the faithful to bear cheerfully the cross 
of Christ, so insatiable was his zeal for souls. A knight 
unto the last hour of his life and unto the last fiber of his 
being, “he resolved to perform even greater deeds for 
Christ, his Leader, and though the members of his body 
were weary and feeble, yet his spirit was strong and fer- 
vent, so that he hoped to wage a fresh warfare against the 
enemy, and to attain a glorious triumph. For there is no 
place for languor and sloth where the stimulus of love is 
ever urging to greater things.” 106 

This glowing zeal for souls was passed on by Francis 
to his sons as a precious inheritance. “Francis desired 
that his sons be perfectly like unto him in that zeal for 
souls with which he was completely filled, ” writes the oldest 
biographer.!” In fact, this fervent zeal became the prized 
inheritance of the first Friars !08 as well as of those great 
Franciscan apostles of all centuries, of an Anthony of 
Padua, Berthold of Regensburg, Bernardine of Siena, 
John of Ducla, Peter of Alcantara, Francis Panigarola, 
Cornelius Musso of Piacenza, Lawrence of Brindisi, Mark 
of Aviano, Joseph of Leonissa, Procopius of Templin, 
Martin of Cochem, Leonard of Porto Maurice, Didacus of 
Cadiz, and others. Zeal for souls must ever remain the 
guiding star of the Franciscan apostolate and the perennial 
fountain from which it draws ever fresh strength and 
inspiration. 





THE APPARITION AT PORTIUNCULA 


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CHAPTER XVI 


THE FRANCISCAN APOSTOLATE 
(Continued ) 


HE essential pursuits of the Franciscan apostolate 
ab were preaching and hearing confessions. In the first 

years the Friars did not, of course, administer the 
sacrament of Penance. Francis and the majority of his 
first disciples were not even priests,! and those who were 
invested with the priestly office did not possess the juris- 
diction necessary for hearing confessions. 

Innocent III granted the Friars (1209-1210) merely the 
authority to preach.” He did, however, promise greater 
concessions.? That he did not at the time have in mind to 
grant permission to hear confessions, is quite evident from 
the decree “Omnis utriusque sexus,’ which he published a 
few years later (1215) at the Fourth Lateran Council, and 
which reads: “All the faithful of both sexes are bound to 
sincerely confess all their sins at least once a year to their 
own priest... . If, however, one wishes to confess to 
another priest for a just cause, he must first request and 
obtain permission from his own priest, since otherwise the 
former cannot absolve him.’ * Thus the administration of 
the sacrament of Penance was reserved to the parish clergy, 
with the exclusion of Religious, who were forbidden by the 
prevalent Church law to hear the confessions of the 
seculars.® 

For this reason Francis makes no mention of this ele- 
ment of the apostolate, neither in the later rules, nor in his 
other utterances. He decrees merely that the priests of the 
Order may absolve their own brothers from sins, and that 

321 


32222 IE EST BEN DSO) show er a IN eect 


the Friars, whenever possible, should have recourse to the 
cconfessors within the Order.6 However numerous the 
priests had become in the Order in the first years following 
its establishment,’ we find nowhere, until shortly before the 
death of Francis, that the priests of the Order heard the 
confessions of seculars. 

Yet their magnificent activity could not be restricted 
very long to preaching. Many of the faithful, with in- 
creasing insistence, demanded to be allowed to confess to 
the mendicant priests for the relief of their conscience, 
partly because these were strangers and were regarded as 
more perfect; partly because the secular clergy were to a 
great extent unworthy, or incapable, or too limited in num- 
bers. The Friars therefore assumed the burdensome, as 
well as important, office of confessors in many places, with 
the permission or at the request of the pastors. 

If we mistake not, the first record of this kind dates 
from 1224. Brother Haymo of Faversham, the later 
Minister General, in that year was visiting a parish church 
in Paris, where a large number of the faithful were as- 
sembled. In his anxiety lest many might approach the 
Lord’s Table in an unworthy state, he delivered a sermon 
on the reception of the Eucharist. His discourse was so 
impressive that many postponed the reception of the Sacra- 
ment until they had confessed to him. For three full days 
he sat in the church and heard confessions, to the great 
consolation of the parish” During Lent of 1231 St. 
Anthony of Padua preached daily and heard the confes- 
sions of his almost countless hearers from morning to eve- 
ning.1° Without doubt the Saint had been active not only 
as preacher, but also as confessor, from the beginning of 
his apostolate (1222). Frequently as many as thirty thou- 
sand people flocked together to hear him,!! and the crowd 
of penitents was so great that the large number of Friars 
and secular priests who followed the saintly preacher, were 
unable to hear all who were desirous of confessing.!? 

It is merely by accident that we receive these reports of 


DER ORO IN Gels GAN AP OSTOLAT Er323 


Haymo, of Anthony, and of the confessors accompanying 
the latter. It is highly probable that many Friars heard 
confessions at this date, perhaps even earlier. Thomas of 
Eccleston declares expressly that in England numerous 
Friars, who were not even preachers or lectors, were pro- 
moted to the office of confessors by the extraordinary 
favor of prelates;!? as for instance Brother Solomon, 
Maurice of Derham, Vincent of Wygorn, Galfrid of Sares- 
bury, Eustace of Merc, and others.!* Other bishops out- 
side England no doubt acted in like manner. 

Very many, even of the higher and lower clergy, how- 
ever, far from allowing the Friars to hear confessions in 
their dioceses, even demanded of the Mendicants that they 
confess to the pastors themselves, receive holy communion 
from them, render tribute to them; in short, be subject to 
them in every manner. Gregory IX, in 1231, put an end 
to these encroachments by several Bulls, forbidding them 
under the most severe penalties to violate or restrict in any 
manner the privileges granted to the Friars by the Popes.’® 

The great friend and mentor of St. Francis on the chair 
of Peter was, however, not content with this. He wished 
that the Friars should exercise without hindrance the 
office of confessors not only in their own churches, but also 
in the whole world in the same manner as they exercised 
the office of preaching. The respective decree is dated 
April 6, 1237.1% Prior to this time Gregory had merely 
insisted, as Innocent III had done before him, that the 
Friars should everywhere preach freely and without re- 
straint.!! He had likewise demanded that they be per- 
mitted to erect their own oratories within the parishes, and 
to preach in them.48 As regards the missionary districts, 
which had neither bishops nor parish clergy, he had 
furthermore granted the Friars unlimited authority to ad- 
minister the sacrament of Penance as well as the other 
sacraments.? Now, however, he commands the entire 
secular clergy of all Christian countries not only to assist 
the Friars zealously in the exercise of the office of preach- 


224. EL HEN: DEAL SOHST ER ZEN ERS 


ing, but also to allow the faithful to confess to them freely 
and without hindrance.?® 

From this moment the sons of St. Francis—the same 
can be said of the Dominicans—were active in the con- 
fessional with the same zeal as in the pulpit. Preaching 
and hearing confessions were regarded by them as sowing 
and reaping, respectively, in the harvest field of the 
Church.?! By means of the latter as well as of the former, 
they achieved an immeasurable amount of good, and gained 
the universal confidence of the faithful. 

This, however, again roused the jealousy of many of 
the secular clergy, who believed their rights and revenues 
endangered by the Friars, They raised such vehement 
and constant protests before Emperor and Pope ?* that 
Innocent IV, who had shortly betore defended the privi- 
leges of the Mendicants to the fullest extent,?? now (1254) 
restricted the faculties granted by his predecessors, and 
in particular forbade Religious to hear confessions without 
the express permission of the respective pastor.** 

Alexander IV, however, rescinded this decree after but 
one month”? and soon afterward commanded all bishops 
and secular priests to assist the Mendicants in the defense 
and the exercise of all privileges granted them by the 
Popes.*® The enemies of the two Orders indeed protested 
all the more vehemently, in particular the Parisian pro- 
fessor, William of St. Amour, who at this period (1255) 
published his notorious work: On the Perils of the Latter 
Days. These foes of the Mendicants were, however, re- 
futed decisively by the two intellectual giants Thomas of 
Aquinas and Bonaventure of Bagnorea,?” and condemned 
by the Church.”® 

The apology which St. Bonaventure wrote in defense of 
the activity of the Friars as preachers and confessors,?9 
bears throughout the imprint of his sublime mentality as 
well as of true Franciscan charity and reverence toward 
the secular clergy. Its dominating thought is: far from 


TIER POR AON © Sie AN ACEO STO A iY aaa 


striving to rival the secular clergy, the Friars desire to 
lead all humanity to God in co-operation with them.*° 
The Friars are aware that they preach and hear confes- 
sions solely by a special Papal privilege,?! while the pastors 
possess the right and the duty of the ordinary care of 
souls. The Friars accordingly are merely the fishermen 
in the second boat, who are called by those in the first 
when the catch becomes too great.3? They divide the labor 
and exertion of the secular clergy, without encroaching on 
their office or their revenue.°? In their sermons they con- 
stantly remind the faithful of their duties toward the 
clergy ®* and are far from discouraging the people to at- 
tend their instructions.®®” In the confessional they give 
their service to those only who come of their own choice, 
and send every penitent to the pastor if he has not con- 
fessed to the latter within the lapse of a year.°® In all 
these things the Friars follow the authorization and the 
command of the Apostolic See, which has empowered them 
to instruct and direct as preachers and confessors not only 
the faithful of the whole world, but the clergy and Re- 
ligious as well.?? 

More exact records of the manner and the method ac- 
cording to which the Friars administered the sacrament of 
Penance are not extant, because this element of their 
apostolate is naturally beyond the pale of closer research. 

2. Of the individuality of the Franciscan sermon, how- 
ever, which was the oldest and most important element of 
the apostolate,*® we are able to glean definite information. 
The nature, the content, the method of the sermon as re- 
gards composition and delivery; finally, the relation of 
sermon to actual life, appear clearly marked and defined. 

In order to understand correctly the nature of the 
Franciscan sermon we must examine more closely the 
difference, as previously pointed out, between the simple 
exhortation and the formal discourse.®® 

In the beginning, Francis and his companions restricted 


326 ET HRLDEBALS OS ele PR AN ERS 


themselves altogether to the former. After the example of 
the apostles, they spoke to the people in the houses where 
they labored or chanced to enter, on the streets, in public 
places, in the open field and wherever occasion offered 
itself, few and simple words of exhortation, and naturally 
these aphoristic addresses in no wise bore the character of 
a formal discourse. 

Wherever Francis found a group of people, he greeted 
them with the words of the Gospel: “The Lord give you 
His peace!” To this he joined in the fervor of his spirit 
and with holy joy his exhortation, which by its very sim- 
plicity and sublimity withal edified his hearers greatly.*° 
Yet, however deep the impression made by his words, and 
however astounding the results produced by them, it is 
expressly noted that there was no question of a sermon 
in the strict sense, but merely an exhortation to penance, 
to peace, to virtue; and when the master had finished, his 
companion Brother Giles would then add: “Believe him 
and heed his words, because he is a man who speaks 
well 

When Brother Giles himself appeared as preacher, he 
followed the same method. The “Aurea dicta of blessed 
Giles,” #° which were collected by his hearers, are not of 
direct bearing on this matter, since they were addressed 
almost exclusively to his brothers in the Order; yet they 
show that Giles had the very happy faculty of uttering 
brief, striking and wise words of admonition even in con- 
verse with his brothers. His life, on the other hand, rep- 
resents him as exercising this faculty in the most original 
manner. We find him now in a hermitage, now on a 
journey to Rome, to Compostella, to Syria and Palestine; 
he earns his livelihood by gathering bundles of fagots 
and carrying them to the city, by harvesting and pressing 
grapes or gathering nuts and baking bread; at one time he 
peddles water in the city, another time he makes rush 
baskets or carries the dead for burial.*® In all these occu- 


DIEB RANCISTAN AO) Ste en oH 827 


pations he speaks to men and women words of instruction 
and encouragement to love God and to do penance, where- 
ever occasion offered.*4 

The other disciples of Francis did likewise. “When- 
ever they entered a city, a hamlet, a village or a house, 
they announced peace and exhorted all to love and fear 
the Creator of heaven and earth, and to observe His com- 
mandments,” we read in the Legend of the Three Com- 
panions.*” They adhered to this form of exhortation long 
after they had been empowered to preach formal sermons. 
Cardinal Jacques de Vitry testifies to this in his descrip- 
tion of their activities, written in 1216. Day after day the 
Friars leave their houses and repair to the surrounding 
villages to earn their livelihood; yet their one desire and 
ambition in laboring thus was to elevate their fellow-men 
to virtue and piety by their example and their words.*® 

The exhortatory form of preaching was to remain in 
practise even later, independent of the formal sermon. 
Francis emphasizes this expressly in the rule of 1221, and 
adds a sketch of a sermon of exhortation, which is worthy 
of attention. Under the title: “Of the Praise and Ex- 
hortation Which All the Brothers May Make,” we read: 
“This or the like exhortation and praise, all my brothers 
may announce with the blessing of God, whenever it may 
please them, among whatever men they may be: Fear and 
honor, praise and bless God, give thanks and adore the 
Lord God almighty in trinity and unity, Father, Son, and 
Holy Ghost, the Creator of all. ‘Do penance, bring forth 
fruits worthy of penance’; *#* for know that soon we must 
die. “Give, and it shall be given to you. Forgive, and you 
shall be forgiven.’48 And if you do not forgive men 
their sins, the Lord will not forgive you your sins.*” Con- 
fess all your sins. Blessed are they who shall die in peni- 
tence, for they shall be in the kingdom of heaven. Woe 
to those who do not die in penitence, for they shall be the 
children of the devil, whose works they do, and they shall 


328 LEHE ES Dee Lets OF SAHER ADS 


go into eternal fire. Beware and abstain from all evil, 
and persevere in good until the end.” °° With such simple 
exhortations all the brothers, clerics and lay brothers, could 
take part in the apostolate. 

Apart from these, however, the formal sermon also had 
its place, but was not permitted to all indiscriminately. 
These formal discourses were not, as we shall presently 
see, Scripture or homiletic.sermons, but merely moral, or 
sermons on “penance.” The latter did not differ essen- 
tially from the above-mentioned exhortatory sermon. The 
preaching of the formal sermon, however, was done in 
the name and by the authority of the Church; it bore there- 
fore an official character, and was permitted not only out- 
side the churches, but also within them and at the liturgical 
functions.’! For this very reason the formal sermon 
could be permitted to those Friars only who possessed the 
proper fitness for this office. That Innocent III did not 
only have in mind the simple exhortation, but the preach- 
ing of sermons in the above-mentioned sense when he 
gave his approbation of the Franciscan apostolate, can 
hardly be doubted. For, the simple exhortation, which is 
open to every Christian, did not require the official authori- 
zation of the Church. Furthermore, in order to make use 
of the simple admonition, Francis and his companions 
would not have stood in need of the tonsure, but they 
necessarily had to be clerics in order to preach sermons 
in the strict sense. Finally, if there had been merely a 
question of the simple exhortatory form of preaching, the 
Pope would not have decreed that among the future Friars 
only those should be permitted to preach who would obtain 
leave from Francis; °? for, this form of preaching, as we 
know, was free to all the Friars without exception. 

That Francis did, in fact, understand the Papal appro- 
bation in this sense, can be definitely proved. Immediately 
after his return from Rome he made use not only of the 
simple exhortation, but, according to our previous state- 


Se PR AON lg eI ACP AOL SC BO ZA 329 


ment,°* he appeared as preacher in the stricter sense. He 
preached in the churches and at the Sunday services even 
at the time that the Friars were living in the hut at Rivo 
Torto. It was his custom at the time to go to Assisi on 
Saturdays, passing the night in prayer in a small garden- 
house belonging to the cathedral chapter, and to preach on 
Sunday at the early Mass in the cathedral church.®? 

In like manner, by virtue of the authority granted by 
Innocent III, he permitted a chosen group of specially 
fitted Friars to exercise the office of preaching. Each 
year, on the occasion of the General Chapter, these Friars 
were selected and sent into the various provinces, that 
they might preach to the people.®® In this matter Francis 
did not consider whether the Friars were clerics or lay 
brothers, but granted leave to preach to all those who pos- 

essed the spirit of God and the required eloquence.*® It 

may be assumed that he had the tonsure conferred on the 
lay brothers who were selected for this office, to receive 
them thus into the ranks of the clergy, just as he and his 
eleven companions had received the tonsure for the same 
reason. 

In the course of the next years the Saint became more 
rigorous in the requirements for the office of preaching. 
For a time indeed he left the selection of the preachers to 
the provincial ministers. The great expansion of the 
Order and the constantly increasing number of Friars, 
advised this innovation. But in making it, strict regula- 
tions were imposed at the same time on the ministers as 
well as on the preachers. The rule of 1221 ordains ex- 
pressly: “Let none of the brothers preach contrary to 
the form and the institution of the holy Roman Church, 
and unless this has been conceded to him by his minister. 
But let the minister take care that he does not grant this 
leave indiscreetly to anyone. ... And let no preacher 
appropriate to himself the office of preaching, but let him 


330 THEIDEALSOFST. FRANCIS 


give up this office without any contradiction, at whatever 
hour it may be enjoined him.” ?? 
| Experience, however, did not seem to commend this 
manner of procedure. At least the approbation for the 
office of preaching was restricted to the General of the 
Order in the final rule of 1223, and made dependent on an 
examination to be made before him: “Let no one of the 
brothers dare to preach in-any way to the people, unless 
he has been examined and approved by the Minister Gen- 
eral of this brotherhood, and the office of preaching is 
conceded to him by the latter.’’ °8 

We are also informed how this regulation was enforced 
during the lifetime of the Saint and shortly after. All 
candidates for the office of preaching, without exception 
were obliged to travel in person from all parts of the 
globe and submit to an examination by the General of the 
Order. This entailed so many difficulties, that already in 
1230 the question was submitted to Gregory IX, whether 
the General should not be permitted to appoint special 
examiners, by whom the Friars could be examined in their 
own provinces. The answer was negative. The future 
preachers were to appear before the General of the Order 
as heretofore on the occasion of the General Chapter, and 
be examined by him in the presence of their provincial 
minister. Exemption was granted in favor of those 
Friars only who, because of their theological training, their 
eloquence and other obvious qualifications, were not in 
need of an examination.®® 

However, after ten years the same Gregory IX realized 
the necessity of abrogating ‚this decree, for the simple 
reason that the large number of Friars and the great dis- 
tances to be traveled by them rendered its observance im- 
possible. He accordingly conceded that the candidates 
who had received their theological training, should submit 
to an examination before their ministers and definitors at 
the Provincial Chapter, and then receive their patent. 


THE FRANCISCAN APOSTOLATE 331 


Ali this leads to the evident conclusion that from the 
very beginning the authorization to preach was made de- 
pendent on certain conditions, and that furthermore these 
conditions became more and more stringent even during 
the lifetime of the Saint. Innocent III had entrusted 
(1209-10) the permission to preach to the judgment of the 
Founder, The latter granted it during the first decade of 
the Order even to the unlettered Friars if they possessed 
the proper qualities. During the second decade of the 
Order, however, these requirements no longer sufficed. 
An examination became indispensable to prove the candi- 
dates sufficiently trained in theology; and in consequence 
only the educated Friars were selected for the office of 
preaching. The requirements demanded of the preachers 
are therefore an index to the content of the Franciscan 
sermon. 

The latter was designated from the first as preaching 
to penance. When Francis received the evangelical mes- 
sage at the time of his calling, making it clear that the 
apostles were sent by Christ “to preach the kingdom of 
God and penance,” he exclaimed: “This is what I desire, 
this is what I seek, this is what I wish to do with all my 
heart.” 6 He immediately set about “to preach penance 
to all with great fervor of spirit and joy of heart.” © 
His first disciples received the same charge: “Most be- 
loved, go forth two and two into all countries of the world, 
preaching to men peace and penance unto the remission of 
their sins.” 6 As soon as their number had risen to 
twelve, they journeyed to Rome to request the approbation 
of the Church. Innocent III “granted to Blessed Francis 
and his brothers leave to preach penance everywhere,” and 
added that he would make larger concessions as soon as 
the young band had increased and proven itself. 

From this it becomes evident with utmost clearness that 
Francis and his Institute were restricted at first to the 


332 THEIDEALS OF ST. FRANCIS 


preaching of penance. What is the exact import of this 
term? 

- Jt must be observed in the first place that the Friars 
designated their life as one of “penance” just as definitely 
as they styled their preaching “the preaching of penance.” 
The dying Francis looks back on his original life in the 
Order and views the present and future life of his 
brothers, and joins both in the term “to do penance.” ® 
The earliest disciples of the Saint are “moved to do pen- 
ance by the example of the Saint.” 6° To the questioning 
of the curious populace regarding their origin, the Order 
to which they belong and the life which they lead, the first 
companions make answer simply: “We are penitents, 
natives of the city of Assisi.” ®* Humbert de Romanis 
condenses the entire Franciscan perfection in the one 
term. Penancess 

Since Franciscan life was called and is a life of penance, 
one might assume that the preaching of penance was 
essentially a means of propaganda for the spread of the 
Order: that the Friars aimed at the one thing in their 
preaching, to urge their hearers to follow the same call- 
ing, to become members of their fraternity. In fact, this 
was partly the object of Franciscan preaching. 

Cardinal Jacques de Vitry finds the immediate object 
and the incisive effect of these preachers herein: they 
exert themselves to the utmost to wrest the souls of their 
fellow-men from earthly vanities and to gain them for 
themselves, a task in which they succeeded admirably.® 
Thomas of Celano and the Three Companions are still 
more definite. In large groups the hearers follow the 
preachers to their hermitages.7° The women, who could 
not of course join the Friars, imitated their life of “pen- 
ance’ in their own convents under the guidance of St. 
Clare; others, hindered by the ties of position and family, 
remained in the world, “doing penance.’ Thus the three 
Orders of St. Francis were regarded originally as Orders 


ict oP RAN CTS GAINSA POS TO GATE. 238 


of penance. “To preach penance,” therefore, signified in 
its most restricted sense: to bring the world into affilia- 
tion with one of the three Orders of St. Francis and 
thereby to a life after the Gospel, along the lines laid 
down by him in his rules.” 

And yet this could not have been the exclusive meaning 
of this term if we consider the nature of the reform which 
was inaugurated by the Franciscan preachers and which 
permeated all classes of the people. That the whole 
world should observe the Gospel to that degree of perfec- 
tion which Francis had in mind for his institute, was not 
to be thought of. The Saint aimed, as Bernard of Bessa 
remarks, at mapping out the path of perfection or “pen- 
ance” for the entire human race as it was suitable and 
possible for all,’® as it was made obligatory for all men by 
the law of the Gospel. To preach penance, therefore, in 
its wider sense, meant to urge all classes of humanity to 
observe the laws and precepts of the Gospel, to rouse them 
to conversion and the correction of their lives, to lead 
them back to practical Christianity. 

This conclusion is brought home to us by all the reports 
of the biographers regarding the preaching of Francis and 
his disciples. The Three Companions relate that the 
Saint on his first missionary journeys “went about through 
cities and villages, urging all men to fear and love God 
and to do penance for their sins.” ** His disciples did 
likewise,® following the instructions imparted by the 
master. “For,” thus spoke the latter, “the Friars Minor 
have in these latter days been sent by God to this, that they 
show the path of light to those who are enveloped in the 
night of sin. Let us consider well, most beloved brothers, 
the calling to which God has called us, not only unto our 
salvation, but unto the salvation of many, that we go 
through the world and urge others more by our example 
than by word, to do penance and to heed the command- 
ments of God.” '% Thomas of Celano likewise emphasizes 


334 SAD HA PDEA br OB STE NG CL 


that the preaching of Francis aimed at the thorough con- 
version and correction of his hearers,’ that it rebuked all 
sins and vices, roused the sinners and effected a complete 
change of heart and life among all classes of the people.*® 

With this agree fully the sketches of sermons made by 
Francis and still extant, also his “Admonitions” to all 
Christians,“® as well as the records of his discourses de- 
livered on the occasion of the wolf plague at Greccio,° 
at the so-called Chapter of the Mats at Portiuncula 
(1221),°! and during the feud of the noble families of 
Bologna (1222),°” and likewise the elementary themes 
which he places in the mouth of a simple and of a learned 
Friar respectively at the imaginary Chapter of all the 
Religious of the world.°? Even more significant is the 
address embodied in the rule of 1221, and which we have 
previously reproduced.®* The latter shows that he under- 
stands by the “sermon on penance” what we are accustomed 
to designate as “moral sermons.’ Francis accordingly 
defines the usual content of the Franciscan sermon thus 
in the rule of 1223: “I warn and exhort the same brothers 
that in the preaching they do, their words be fire-tried and 
pure for the utility and edification of the people, announc- 
ing to them vices and virtues, puntshment and glory, with 
brevity of speech, because the Lord made His word short 
upon earth.” ®° 

The preaching therefore, as granted by Innocent III 
and practised by Francis and the first generation of his 
brothers, was evidently the simple moral sermon, in con- 
tradistinction to the Scriptural sermon, which aimed at 
expounding the moral as well as the dogmatic content of 
Revelation by means of the inspired text, and which for 
this reason was termed doctrinal sermon. 

That the Friars were entrusted with the preaching of 
moral sermons in distinction to the Scriptural or doctrinal 
sermon, becomes still more evident if we consider the law 
of custom which prevailed at that time in regard to popular 


Here aN CDS NA OS TEHEFATT Haas 


preachers. Whenever the permission to preach was 
granted to laymen, or unlettered clerics, the Scriptural 
sermon was always excluded. This was restricted to the 
educated clerics. The popular preacher Peter Waldes 
and his followers came in conflict with the Archbishop of 
Lyons, because they dared to undertake the exposition of 
the Scriptures and the preaching of doctrinal sermons.®® 
Innocent III granted the Lombardic Humiliati the permis- 
sion to preach moral sermons (1201) with the explicit ex- 
clusion of sermons on the articles of faith and the sacra- 
ments,®" i.e. on dogma.®® 

The Catholic Poor Men were the first (1208) to suc- 
cessfully solicit the permission to preach doctrinal sermons, 
on the ground that the members of their society were for 
the greater part clerics and trained in theology.°® Two 
years later the re-united Lombards obtained this conces- 
sion on the same grounds.?® 

In the meantime the Poverello with his eleven com- 
panions, who were almost all unlettered,?! had appeared 
before Innocent III (1209-10). They requested and 
received permission to preach penance.”” Beyond doubt 
this meant the authorization to preach moral sermons, in 
direct contrast to doctrinal sermons. 

The Pope, however, gave them hopes of preaching the 
latter in the near future, when he added that he would 
“concede still greater things and entrust more to them with 
more secure confidence, as soon as they had increased and 
proven themselves [as preachers of penance]. There is 
no record to show when the Church regarded this condition 
as fulfilled. The first attempts at preaching doctrinal ser- 
mons occurred, however, but a few years after the estab- 
lishment of the Order. 

Of great significance in this direction is the inauguration 
of the missions among the infidels dating from 1212-13. 
Francis himself went forth at that time “to preach the 
Christian Faith and penance to the Saracens and other in- 


336% SLE HDs AU IS Ose IRA 


fidels.” 93 From that time the heathen missions were fos- 
tered by him and his sons with increasing zeal, so that 
they were in need of more definite organization as early as 
1221. In the apposite chapter of the rule the Holy 
Founder designates the twofold manner in which the mis- 
sionary Friars were to exercise the apostolate among the 
Saracens and other infidels. The first consisted in simply 
furnishing the example of a truly Christian life and pro- 
fessing their faith steadfastly; the second, in preaching 
the truths of the Faith, above all the mysteries of the 
Trinity, the Incarnation and Redemption.** 
- Contemporary with the missions among the infidels, the 
Friars began to preach doctrinal sermons also to the 
Christian people. In this regard the Franciscans, in com- 
mon with the Dominicans, found a wide gap to be filled. 
Religious instruction left much to be desired in the begin- 
ning of the thirteenth century. Time and again various 
synods admonished the parish clergy to teach the faithful 
at least the Apostles’ Creed ® with the Ten Command- 
ments of God ®° the Lord’s Prayer 87 and the Angelical 
Salutation.°8 In larger parishes the occurring gospel or 
epistle were to be expounded on Sundays and holydays.*® 

Yet even this minimum of religious instruction was hard 
to realize. This was due to the lack of zeal on the one 
hand, and on the other more frequently to the lack of 
knowledge on the part of the secular clergy. Many pas- 
tors were so ignorant that they were directed to hear other 
preachers and be instructed by them before they attempted 
to instruct their own parishioners.1°° Occasionally the 
archdeacons were enjoined to instruct the clergy under 
them in the elementary truths of the faith and in simple 
terms, in order that the latter might be able to impart the 
most necessary knowledge to the faithful.1%! Bishops, 
even, were found lacking the knowledge requisite to the 
preaching of doctrinal sermons.1 

In the face of this unfortunate state of affairs, the 


DEREN GT SCANT AE OS Oe AFLET 337 


Fourth Lateran Council decreed in 1215, that the bishops 
were bound under the most severe penalties to appoint in 
all places suitable preachers, who were to go from parish 
to parish and announce the word of God and administer 
the sacrament of Penance.1%® The two Mendicant Orders, 
which had been founded expressly for the purpose of 
itinerant preaching, were to assume the major part of this 
task. The Dominicans, being an Order of clerics, were 
engaged from the beginning in the preaching of doctrinal 
sermons. The Franciscans followed as soon as they were 
able to place sufficiently trained men in the field. 

In fact, as early as 1219 Honorius III speaks not only 
of the sermon on Penance in his first letter of recommen- 
dation of the Franciscan preachers addressed to the 
bishops, but declares simply that the Friars Minor “sow 
the seed of the divine word after the example of the 
apostles.” 1°* Shortly after, it is recorded that St. An- 
thony of Padua (since 1222) preached as a new evangelist 
in many places not only to the faithful, but also refuted 
the heretics in public discourses and converted them from 
their errors in large numbers. He dealt the enemies 
of the Faith such severe blows that his contemporaries 
accorded him the name “Hammer of Heretics.” 1% 

It is worthy of note that Anthony developed his glorious 
activity as preacher of faith and morals at the very time 
when Francis, under the mentorship of Hugolino, the later 
Pope Gregory IX, was writing the rule in which he men- 
tions explicitly only the moral sermon; that is, the preach- 
ing on “the vices and virtues, punishment and glory.’ 19 
The rule of 1223 did not therefore exclude doctrinal ser- 
mons outright, as little as the non-Franciscan instructions 
on preaching of the thirteenth century excluded it, al- 
though these also mention only the moral sermon. 

Numerous other Franciscans were also engaged like 
St. Anthony in preaching sermons on the Faith. As early 
as 1237 Gregory IX declares: “Because impiety has grown 


338 hr? DH ELDER STOSS ERBRECHT 


beyond bounds, and the love of very many has grown cold, 
the Lord has raised up the Order of the beloved sons, the 
Friars Minor, who have devoted themselves to the preach- 
ing of the word of God, to extirpate heresies as well as 
other deadly evils.” 19 Soon after, Alexander IV be- 
stows the following encomium on the two Mendicant 
Orders : “These are the men who battle against the enemies 
of souls with the shield of faith, the armor of justice, the 
sword of the spirit, the helmet of salvation, the spear of 
perseverance, and thus seek to effect the increase of faith, 
hope and charity in all Catholics, that the path of truth 
be opened to all unbelievers and the error of heretical 
perversity vanish,” 110 

We are now in a position to form a fairly accurate idea 
of the contents of the Friars’ sermons. In the beginning 
they restricted themselves to the subject of penance; i.e., 
in their exhortations as well as in their formal sermons 
they simply admonished their hearers to change their 
morals and to lead a better life. Later on, the Friars who 
were able to do so, were permitted to preach Scriptural 
sermons, that is, to explain on Scriptural grounds the 
entire matter of revelation, from the moral as well as from 
the dogmatic standpoint. Whenever they addressed 
Catholic, and not infidel or heretic audiences, they laid 
chief stress as heretofore on moral and practical truths; 
in other words, they preached moral sermons grounded on 
dogma; and even when they treated topics of faith they 
never lost sight of the fact that by their calling they were 
preachers of penance, called to edify, to uplift, to rouse, to 
convert the masses. 

The manuscript sermons of the thirteenth century which 
we possess,!!! all bear this character, especially those of 
the greatest preacher of them all, Father Berthold of 
Regensburg. 

The majority of Berthold’s sermons,'? whether intended 
for Sundays, for festivals of the Lord and of the Saints, 


TIIRERRAN GESCHN AT OS BOL ATE) 339 


for special occasions, or hearers, must be designated as 
moral sermons solidly grounded on dogma. A remarkable 
thing about these sermons is how often the Friar takes up 
the cudgels against the heresies of his time.4% In con- 
sideration of the havoc wrought by false teachers, and of 
the needs of his hearers, he was accustomed, whenever 
possible, to weave catechetical instructions into his dis- 
courses, particularly into those intended for the early 
Masses.114_ Besides these, there are extant purely dogmatic 
sermons, especially on the sacraments. Nevertheless, even 
these, not to mention his strictly moral sermons, are never 
purely doctrinal; always and everywhere we note a tend- 
ency to reach the masses in the problems of their daily life, 
to expose and to heal the wounds which festered in the 
body social of his day. Hence Roger Bacon holds him 
up as the unsurpassed model of the popular style of 
Franciscan oratory.¥5 

Bacon bases his opinion not only on the practical con- 
tents, but more so on the eminently popular method of 
Berthold’s sermons, in contrast to the cumbersome method 
in vogue with so many preachers of his time. 

Up to the eleventh century all preachers were accus- 
tomed to explain Holy Writ and to make applications ac- 
cording to the homilies of the early Fathers. With the 
advent of Scholasticism, however, this form of preaching 
began to wane. Holy Scripture, of course, remained the 
chief source of inspiration both for pulpit eloquence and 
scientific theology. Anselm of Canterbury, (died 1109), 
the “Father of Scholasticism,” expressly declares: “We 
preach and teach nothing accruing to the welfare of men, 
unless our instruction comes forth from the Scriptures, 
fructified by the Spirit of God, or can be reduced to the 
same source.” 116 In spite of the trend of progressive 
speculation, this conviction remained deeply rooted in all 
the schools during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.t!? 

But just as the Scholastic method supplanted the con- 


340 SATEEN PDE AT SACHEN Slike eaten 


tinuous citation of Scripture texts with the “Sentences” 
and with the systematic exposition of the inspired books, 
so the preachers began to favor the selection of a single 
Bible text as the subject of their discourse, and to elab- 
orate this “theme” according to the Scholastic method. 
In this way the simple homily was superseded by the 
rhetorically correct sermo. Clear division of topics, care- 
fully ordered dispositions, logical construction and ex- 
pansion of the entire discourse were the advantages of 
the new method of preaching. Only too often, however, 
these qualities were upheld at the cost of the graphic, prac- 
tical, and stirring popular style. Yes, they became the 
very ruin of pulpit eloquence as soon as the Scholastic 
sermon method degenerated into dialectic hair-splitting 
and word play. Unfortunately this was frequently the 
case when, from the middle of the thirteenth century, the 
Aristotelic-Porphyrian method of dialectics assumed 
prominence in theological schools. The majority of 
preachers at this time seemed to forget that the sole object 
of their discourse was to instruct and confirm their hearers 
in the Faith and to guide them to a godly way of living. 
Instead, they spent their efforts in endless splitting of 
texts and opinions, divisions and distinctions, and the 
empty turning of harmonious phrases. It seemed as if 
their whole aim was to weave fragile webs of bombast in 
which the hearts and minds of their auditors became hope- 
lessly enmeshed. One sought in vain among their schol- 
arly orations for traces of the wisdom and strength of the 
old, genuine popular sermon.48 

For St. Francis and his immediate followers there ex- 
isted no danger of being infected by this improper method 
of preaching. They were the products of everyday life, 
not the exotics of the halls of learning. Their preaching 
was therefore free from oppressive erudition, mimicry, 
and stereotyped methods. It was the sporadic outflow of 
their divinely inspired zeal for souls, which knew no other 


EHERPBRANEESCANILPBOSTEOIEA TEE 341 


objective than the conversion and the uplift of mankind 
through “penance.” Unfortunately, his hearers have 
handed down to us no complete sermon of the great 
preacher of penance of Assisi. Nevertheless, it suffices 
to know that his words found a loud echo in the hearts of 
all, drawing into their magic circle all grades of society, 
the lowest as well as the highest,!® in order to establish 
the fact with unfailing certainty that he was one of the 
greatest popular preachers that ever lived. Even his 
exhortations, instructions and letters that have come down 
to us, insignificant as they may be when compared with his 
living word, betray a preacher after the heart of God in 
their straightforwardness and simplicity, their heartiness, 
their unction, warmth and vigor. As an example we cite 
his touching admonition on the veneration of the Holy 
Eucharist,!?° and the dramatic effect he lends to the de- 
scription of the death of the impenitent sinner.!?! These 
afford us an insight into the charming originality of the 
oldest Franciscan sermon. 

We dare not pass over the deep reverence which these 
preachers evinced for the Holy Scriptures, It would be 
an error to conclude that these unlettered Friars, in con- 
trast to the schooled oratory of their contemporaries, made 
no use of the Bible. It is true, in the beginning the purely 
Scriptural sermon, that is, the homiletic interpretation of 
the Scriptural pericope, was forbidden them for the very 
reason that they were not trained in theology. That their 
discourses on penance, however, were grounded on Scrip- 
ture, is evident from what has been said above. No one 
understood this art of preaching in the spirit of the Gospel 
better than Francis of Assisi, he who had taken the Gospel 
in its fulness as the norm of his life. How copiously he 
used the words of the divine volumes we leave the reader 
to judge. Those of his writings which we still possess, 
reveal a manifold choice of Scripture citation from nearly 
every book of the New Testament. It seems that he as a 


3422 2 RE HEIIDERTISTO RSS TIER RS 


rule spoke freely on any particular truth, illustrating and 
supporting his ideas wherever possible by passages from 
the inspired text. Sometimes, however, and this is worthy 
of note, he took a single Scripture text and expounded it 
thematically after the custom of the schooled preachers of 
his day. 

Jordan of Giano, an eye-witness, tells us that Francis 
preached in this way at the Chapter of the Order in 1221, 
taking as his text the Psalm verse: “Blessed be the Lord, 
my God, who teacheth my hands to fight,” 1°? with the 
avowed object of enthusing the thousands of Friars there 
assembled to give the world an example of virtue.?** 
Again in his allegory of the General Chapter of all the 
Religious of the world, he depicts a simple brother holding 
a thematic sermon on the Psalm text, whereas a learned 
one admonishes his hearers in simple fashion: “Great are 
the things we have promised: still greater are those that 
were promised to us! Let us observe the former and 
strive to attain to the latter! Pleasure is short; punish- 
ment everlasting; the suffering slight, the glory infinite. 
Many are called, few are chosen; retribution awaits all.” 1*4 
At Bologna, on the feast of the Assumption in 1222, 
Francis announced the following division of his sermon 
matter: “The angels, men, the devils.” He treated this 
subject with the intention of extinguishing existing feuds 
and reconciling the citizens estranged by enmity.!® In 
all this, however, he avoided all artificial and affected 
oratory.1*6 

The more this Franciscan method of preaching penance 
extended into the region of dogmatic and moral theology, 
the closer it copied the method of preaching prevalent in 
those days. In spite of this it succeeded in preserving the 
character of simplicity, naturalness, and popularity, even 
when the analytic method of preaching had become quite 
common. Roger Bacon scourges the “Porphyrian” orators 
of that time in a way 127 which proves that both he and 


THEFRANCISCANAPOSTOLATE 343. 


others of his Order had a deep understanding of and a 
deeper enthusiasm for, the genuine popular style of 
preaching. 

Even those Franciscans who were caught in the toils of 
the Scholastic-analytic form, adopted a much simpler tone 
and exerted in proportion a more telling influence on their 
hearers than the Dominicans and other preachers.!?® 
Friar Berthold of Regensburg especially had a pronounced 
talent for utilizing the advantages of Scholastic learning 
without prejudice to true rhetorical art, and of bringing 
sacred oratory to the height of perfection, and thus, as 
Bacon testifies, of achieving more than all other Francis- 
cans and Dominicans combined.!?? 

Popular as Francis was in the treatment of his sermon 
matter, he was equally popular, in the best sense of the 
word, in his delivery. It is well known to us that he began 
his apostolate as a “ministrel of God,” singing with a loud 
and clear voice ballads on the goodness of the Most 
High.!?° Love of God and enthusiasm for God were the 
spiritual atmosphere in which he constantly lived and out 
of which he spoke. The uninterrupted walking in the 
presence of God and the continuous meditation on the 
things of God enabled him to preach without much thought 
the most soul-stirring sermons. Close preparation seemed 
rather to hinder than to help him. A few times when he 
had carefully prepared a sermon, it happened that he 
forgot all he had learned, and was unable to continue. In 
such a predicament he would humbly acknowledge to his 
hearers that he had thought long and deeply over what 
he had wished to preach, and that he now knew not what 
to say. Finding himself at a loss for words, he would then 
dismiss the people with his blessing, and this blessing, 
coupled with his humility, did more to move their hearts 
than the most effective sermon. Usually, however, after 
he had humbly acknowledged his unfitness, the Spirit of 
God would move him. Without further anxiety about 


344 THEIDEALS OF ST. FRANCIS 


his prepared sermon, he would speak impromptu and with 
such eloquence that the assembled hearers were carried 
away with admiration.!?! 

He could, above all, never bring himself to follow the 
custom of so many preachers of his time of memorizing 
and delivering the sermons of others.!?? Only once, when 
he had to preach at Rome in the presence of Honorius 
III and the Papal Court, he attempted to memorize a 
sermon prepared by Cardinal Hugolino according to all 
the canons of rhetoric. When, however, the man of God 
stood up in this strange armor, his memory failed him 
entirely. Quickly recovering himself, he opened his 
breviary, came across the Psalm text, “All the day long my 
shame is before me; and the confusion of my face hath 
covered me,” 133 and applying this text to the assembled 
prelates, he showed them how they were the face of the 
Church, and therefore should not cause it shame, but 
honor; he pictured how dreadful is the scandal and how 
terrible the responsibility of bad prelates, and admonished 
them to illumine the faithful with the light of their vir- 
tues. He spoke with such profound knowledge, experi- 
ence and ease that his august hearers were not only aston- 
ished, but deeply moved.1*4 

It was because Francis was so intimately united with 
God and absorbed in God’s interests, that he could appear 
before the choicest and largest audiences with an ease and 
confidence as though he were conversing with a trusted 
friend. He held large assemblies of hearers as easily in 
control by his eloquence as he would one person, and he 
preached with the same care and enthusiasm to one as to 
many thousands.1% 

As soon as he began to speak, the inner fire that glowed 
within his soul broke forth in his countenance and flashed 
from his whole person. Thomas of Celano describes his 
delivery in a few bold strokes: “He was a man of unusual 
eloquence ; his countenance beamed with joy; the expres- 


LH Ea RAN GL 5 GRINE BE OSIEOADTEI 32 5 


sion of his face was replete with kindness, his speech meek, 
fiery and moderate, his voice strong, sweet, clear and 
sonorous .. . Christ, the true Strength and Wisdom, im- 
parted to his word power and force.” 13° According to 
the testimony of the Three Companions and of the 
Seraphic Doctor, his word was like a flaming torch, which 
sent its rays into the deepest recesses of the heart and in- 
flamed his hearers with its ardor. One felt instinctively 
that he spoke not with human artificiality, but at the move- 
ment and inspiration of God.1?? 

The appealing force of his sermons was enhanced by 
his unusual, characteristic gesticulation. The Bolognese 
student, who heard him preach on the feast of the As- 
sumption in 1222, was so astounded that he remarked: 
“Francis spoke not after the manner of ordinary preachers, 
but as a man of the people to the people.” 13° Everything 
about him was life, movement, attraction, so much so, 
that the masses went not only to hear him, but also to see 
him.13? “His whole body,” says Thomas of Celano, “be- 
came to him a tongue.” 14° The whole man spoke, and 
his entire speech became a spectacle in the best and noblest 
sense of the word. 

This can be explained on the one hand by the fact that 
in Francis the orator and the poet were united in one; 
on the other, by the fact that his sermons, as we have had 
occasion to remark before, were the outpouring of a heart 
deeply sunk in God; in a word, of an apostle fired with 
enthusiasm for the cause of God. Both factors considered 
together, furnish the full explanation; that is, that the 
Poverello was in fact a “spiritual troubadour, a minstrel 
of God.” It has been rightly remarked that Francis at 
all times felt an irresistib'e tendency to expression. “A 
child’s tendency to play—I know no other but this pro- 
fane term—clung to him till his death; he ‘plays’ beggar ; 
he ‘plays’ pilgrim; he ‘plays’ Christmas; he ‘plays’ the 
Last Supper. Indeed his entire life fashions itself into 


346 SE TSELES DI ACTIONS LO,BESTDIEKER EAN EIS 


a ‘playing’ in the highest meaning of the word: for with 
him the following of Christ became a literal imitating of 
Christ, a living with the Redeemer and according to the 
life of the Redeemer, even to the agony of Golgotha.” 1 
No wonder, then, that he “played” preacher also, that he 
“performed” the truths of Christianity, exactly as the 
profane Jongleurs and minstrels played and performed 
their Chansons de geste. 

He never laid aside this highly popular style of preach- 
ing whether he addressed simple folk or the learned and 
the mighty. Even in the face of the Papal Court he re- 
tained it. He spoke before this august audience of Pope 
and cardinals with such fiery ardor and enthusiasm that 
he was carried out of himself and at almost every word 
that dropped from his lips he moved his feet in such a 
manner as if he were about to leap. This was not mere 
theatrical display, but the unconscious exhibition of the 
raptures of divine love controlling him, so that the specta- 
tors were not moved to ridicule, but on the contrary to 
sorrow and compunction. Hugolino himself, who was 
present, had been very anxious before and had prayed that 
the simplicity of the man of God might not be ridiculed, 
now rejoiced with the entire assembly at this wonderful 
sermon of the minstrel of God.!*? 

Up to the very end of his life the Saint showed how 
dear to him was this method of preaching. He had just 
composed the Canticle of the Sun. Thereupon he sent for 
Brother Pacificus, the “King of Verses’ and a gifted 
singer. To him Francis confided the mission of journey- 
ing through the world, accompanied by a number of 
Friars, preaching, and singing the Canticle of the Sun. 
The most eloquent among them was to preach to the 
people, then the Canticle was to be sung by all in chorus, 
as true minstrels of God. When the last note of the song 
had died out, the preacher, after the manner of the pro- 
fane troubadours, was to ask payment in these words: 


THE FRANCISCAN APOSTOLATE 347 


“We are minstrels of God and wish to be repaid by you 
for our sermon and song by your perseverance in penance.” 
And the Saint added: “What else are we servants of God 
but in a measure His minstrels, who should uplift the 
hearts of men and move them to spiritual joy?” 1*3 

But just as the Friars were called to represent the 
Gospel after the manner of the minstrels, they were ad- 
monished by the Saint to realize the Gospel also in their 
own life as true knights of Christ. His oldest biographers 
assert that Francis preached with such overwhelming per- 
suasion because he always observed personally what he 
demanded of others; 1** deeply conscious that men needed 
the force of good example to move them, he first reduced 
the truths of Christianity to daily practise in his own life, 
following the example of the apostles, in order to be able 
to preach them afterward in words, and thus effect the 
conversion of the world both by word and by deed.!#3 
Contemporary chroniclers also record that the example of 
the apostolic life led by the early Friars endowed their 
preaching with that irresistible power which brought about 
the conversion of the masses sunken in vices; indeed, 
even led many into the Order itself.1*6 

Francis himself insisted strongly on the harmony that 
should exist between living and preaching, between word 
and deed, between teaching and example. However great 
his zeal in announcing the truths of the Gospel, his efforts 
to live this Gospel perfectly himself were even greater.147 
He declared that the Friars Minor were called by God 
to shed the bright ray of their good example unto all that 
sit in the darkness of sin; 148 their motto should be, “to go 
through the world admonishing everyone more by example 
than by word to do penance and to keep God’s command- 
ments.” +49 He was, in fact, of the opinion that the Order 
had no title to existence and support unless it benefited 
the world by good example.° 

From all this, the one inevitable conclusion can be 


38 P OTHE TDi ATES sO Sie EARRING GH > 


drawn; namely, that no Friar Minor can exempt himself 
from the obligation of preaching to the world by good 
example. Not everyone is fit to preach by word, yet 
Francis says distinctly: “Let all the brothers preach by 
good works.” 151 A professor of theology once asked him 
the meaning of the passage in Ezechiel: “If thou declare 
it not to the wicked nor speak to him that he may be con- 
verted from his wicked way and live: I will require his 
blood at thy hand.” 19? Francis answered: “A servant of 
God should be so inflamed with inner holiness of life, that 
he correct everyone by the light of his example and the 
speech of his life. Thus the light of his life and the odor 
. of his fame will proclaim to the godless their iniquity.” 193 

At every Chapter of the Order and on every other oc- 
casion, he therefore never failed to warn the brothers 
against giving scandal.°* At the very thought that some 
of the brothers might in future bring shame on the Order 
through bad behavior or scandal, he lifted his hands 
heavenward and, with tears streaming down his cheeks, 
he uttered these words of prayer, or rather of imprecation: 
“Lord Jesus Christ, who hast chosen twelve apostles, 
among whom one fell, the others however, animated by 
one and the same Spirit, preached the Holy Gospel, Thou, 
O Lord, being mindful of Thy mercy, hast in our time 
planted the Order of Friars Minor that they might be a 
support to Thy Faith, and that through them the mystery 
of the Gospel might be realized. Who will be able to 
render Thee satisfaction for them if they do not show the 
light of a good example, as they are called to do, but in- 
stead do the works of darkness? May they be cursed by 
Thee, Most Holy Lord, by Thy heavenly court, and by me, 
Thy least servant, who by their bad example undermine 
and destroy what Thou hast once built up through the holy 
brothers of this Order, and which Thou never ceasest to 
build up.” 17° | 

On the other hand, he declared that he was filled with 


THE FRANCISCAN APOSTOLATE 349 


the sweetest odor and refreshed with precious ointment 
when he heard great things of the brothers scattered 
throughout the world. He rejoiced in spirit that these 
brothers were leading back the sinners to the love of 
Christ by word or deed, and he showered upon them his 
most choice blessings.!?”® Almost carried away with rap- 
ture over such brothers, he lifted up his voice in praise to 
the Almighty and sang out of the depths of his soul: “I 
thank Thee, O Lord, who sanctifiest and guidest the poor, 
that Thou hast deigned to let me hear such gladsome tid- 
ings of the brothers. I beseech Thee, bless with Thy 
richest blessings those brothers, and sanctify all who 
render their religious state illustrious by their good ex- 
ample, with the special gifts of Thy grace.” 157 


CHA BIER EVD: 


FRANCISCAN SCIENCE 
ER TOLIC activity and apostolsc life are also the 


two standpoints from which Francis viewed the 

question of science in the Order. The work of the 
apostolate imparted the impulse to Franciscan science; 
apostolic life became its norm.! 

1. Francis and his disciples knew only one ideal sphere 
of activity: apostolic labor. For this reason science in- 
terested them only in so far as it had direct or indirect 
bearing on the office of preaching and the administration 
of the sacrament of Penance. A science which was its 
own goal, never existed in the Order. St. Bonaventure 
stresses this fact even at a time when studies had reached 
their zenith in the Order.” With much more force does 
this hold good for the first decades of the Order, and 
especially for the lifetime of the Founder. 

Francis himself was neither learned nor educated. It 
may be mentioned as a mere curiosity of history that 
Roger Wendover (died 1236), and his successor, Mat- 
thew of Paris, assert that Francis “applied himself from 
tender years to the study of sciences and theology, and 
mastered them completely.” ® His biographers stress, on 
the contrary, that he was uneducated and grew up with- 
out instruction.* Francis personally designates himself 
idiota.® 

Yet one should not take this too literally. In the 
Middle Ages it was customary to designate as idiote not 
only those who were unlettered, but the laity in general, 
in distinction to the clergy, because these almost ex- 


350 


BERANENECHI SGU SUCHEN 351 


clusively were the representatives of higher learning. 
In Order parlance especially, the lay brothers were called 
simply idiote to distinguish them from the priests.® In 
this sense only can this term be applied to Francis and to 
his first companions,’ though many of them were not un- 
educated, as education was then understood.® In fact, 
Francis had learned to read and write as a boy,’ was 
acquainted with French? and Latin,!! and was familiar 
with the poetry and the art of singing of the Duecento. 
In a word, he possessed the education proper to the sons of 
the wealthy merchants of the time.!? 

This limited knowledge he strove to augment during his 
religious life not only by prayer, but also by study.!3 
Whenever he felt low-spirited, when sufferings and sick- 
ness menaced the buoyancy of his spirit, he sought solace 
in the reading of the Scriptures, including the Old Testa- 
ment, and found in their perusal the enlightenment, rest, 
peace and joy he sought.!* At other times he also loved 
to read the Scriptures, and whatever he had once grasped 
with his mind, remained indelibly stamped on his heart. 
Thus his memory served him as a ready reference book, 
since he constantly meditated on whatever he had heard 
or read. This method of learning, in contrast to the in- 
judicious and excessive reading of many things, he con- 
sidered the best way of cultivating his mind. In order 
to increase whatever knowledge he acquired in this man- 
ner, he would discuss disputed questions with the Friars, 
and although the scientific terminology failed him, the 
acumen and penetration of his intellect became all the 
more prominent.?? “Where many another, in spite of 
scholarly attainments and mental application, in spite of 
methodical processes, could achieve nothing, he strikes the 
right solution; he was gifted with clearness of vision and 
that intuition of genius which without effort and, as it 
were spontaneously, grasps things which even greater 
talents fail to grasp after great efforts.!® 

But far more important than these natural sources of 


3520, IT HEIILDEATSIOFSSIE TERFINITHS 


knowledge were the supernatural, extraordinary illumi- 
nations which he received from God. 

The authorities agree that in theological matters Francis 
possessed a knowledge all his own. He spoke on the 
deepest mysteries of faith, on the most difficult religious 
problems, on the most abstruse passages of Scripture 
with an astounding clearness, precision and thorough- 
ness. Even learned priests, doctors and prelates sought 
out the idiota for enlightenment where science failed 
them.!” A doctor of theology of the Dominican Order 
confessed after such a conference with Francis: “My 
brothers, the theology of this man soars aloft to heaven 
on the wings of truth and contemplation like an eagle, 
while our science laboriously creeps on the earth.” 18 

This knowledge he owed, if not to the direct interven- 
tion of God, at least to the liveliness of his faith and the 
fervor of his love, by means of which even the simplest 
men at times clearly and thoroughly grasp the most dif- 
ficult things, whereas great and learned men see only 
darkness. Cardinal Hugolino ascribed this knowledge of 
his holy friend to supernatural inspiration.” Thomas of 
Celano also assures us that not human study, but divine 
light furnished him with the understanding of the mys- 
teries of faith, and that the intensity of his love penetrated 
where the cold learning of the professors dared not in- 
trude.*° This love-inspired contemplation of God on the 
one hand, and the continuous enlightenment from God on 
the other, filled him with a wisdom more sublime than 
that of the greatest scholars of his time.?! 

Because of this knowledge, drawn from supernatural 
sources, the Patriarch is given in the art creations of the 
Renaissance a place of honor among the Doctors of the 
Church,?? and the Prince of poets represents him in com- 
pany with Thomas and Bonaventure in the sunburst of 
Paradise.” Everything in the life of the Saint which 
reveals deep, scientific knowledge must have sprung from 
this supernatural source. Even if one were to designate 


FRANCES CAN SCLEN CE 353 


Francis and Dominic, according to the opinion of two 
of their greatest disciples, as cherubim resplendent with 
knowledge,*4 yet the science of the former flows from the 
seraphic fountain of his glowing love of God, while the 
latter must be accorded the palm of cherubic wisdom: 


FRE IHM One, seraphic all 
In fervency; for wisdom upon earth; 
The other, splendor of cherubic light.” 75 


From this the preaching of St. Francis especially de- 
rived the greatest benefit. As highly as his contempo- 
raries esteem his inborn talent for oratory, they never- 
theless emphasize particularly: “The most brave knight 
of Christ, Francis, preached the kingdom of God not 
with the persuasive words’of human wisdom, but in the 
teaching and the strength of the Holy Ghost.” 7° “He 
drew out of the fulness of his heart what the Holy Ghost 
prompted.” 27 In regard to Francis the question there- 
fore remains, whether and in how far he trained himself 
for the office of preaching by scientific study. 

The same holds good regarding his first disciples. 
These were, as we know, for the most part lay brothers, 
therefore idiote, without scientific training. No doubt 
they feared to accept the office of preaching; Francis 
nevertheless sent them out with the consoling admonition: 
“Fear not because you appear little and mean and ignorant, 
but preach penance courageously, trusting that the Lord, 
who conquered the world, will speak through you and in 
you by the power of His spirit.” ?® After the number of 
Friars had increased, Francis allowed only those to preach 
who showed special fitness for it, whether clerics or lay 
brothers; higher education, however, was not the deter- 
mining factor in this choice, but the fact that the chosen 
ones were animated by the spirit of God and possessed 
the proper oratorical ability.” 

This might have sufficed as long as the Friars restricted 


354.0, CE ED E ALS O-FESITER RISSE 


themselves to preaching penance, or to moral sermons in 
a strict sense. This privilege had been granted, as we 
-know,*® to various lay institutes even before Francis, and 
the latter had obtained for himself and his disciples the 
privilege of preaching without reference to the duty of 
study. Consequently it appears that theological training 
was not regarded as a necessary requirement for preach- 
ing toward the end of the twelfth and the beginning of 
the thirteenth century. 

It was an entirely different matter in regard to the office 
of preaching in the strict sense of the word. Whoever 
wished to preach the “Scriptures,” that is, to expound the 
entire matter of revelation both in its dogmatic and its 
moral content, was obliged to study “Scripture,” or as 
we should say, theology. All the homiletes of those times 
emphasize this fact. Thus Alanus of Lillie (died 1202) : 
“For preachers learning is necessary; they must be ac- 
quainted with both Testaments, and skilled in the appli- 
cation of their passages.” 31 The synodal statutes of 
Odo de Sully, Bishop of Paris (ca. 1197), forbid itinerant 
preachers under pain of excommunication to preach within 
or outside of churches, and prohibit others to listen to them 
under the same penalty.3 The provincial synod of Trier 
(1227) inhibits preaching to all “uninstructed priests, lest 
they become exponents of error,” and ordains that “the 
Word of God be frequently propounded by capable 
men.” 93 The Fourth Council of the Lateran (1215) en- 
joins on all bishops to appoint as preachers of the Word 
of God well-trained men only, and demands the same even 
of prelates.*4 

Fully in accord with this was the attitude of the Church 
toward those religious associations which sought the privi- 
lege of preaching. When the Waldenses, claiming fit- 
ness for this task, attempted to preach “Scripture,” they 
were refused by the Archbishop of Lyons.®® And when 
they insisted by appealing to the Third Council of the 
Lateran (1179), Walter Mapes replied that they were 


BRAINITSGANISCLENGE 355 


practically unlettered and consequently should not be lis- 
tened t0.3° The Poor Men of Lombardy were likewise 
refused the privilege by Innocent III in 1201, because 
they were not trained in theology; shortly afterward, how- 
ever (1208), permission was given to the Catholic Poor 
Men by the same Pope in consideration of their theological 
training.?’ Some years later (1215), St. Dominic 
founded the Order of Preachers. But just as preaching 
was emphasized as the object of the Order, just so essen- 
tial was study regarded as the indispensable means to this 
end.38 

As early as 1212-13 the Franciscans advanced from the 
preaching of penance to missions among the infidels, and 
assumed the office of preaching in its fullest sense both as 
regards Catholics and heretics, and including also doc- 
trinal sermons; this was a few years after the Domini- 
cans.°? Then followed the administration of the sacra- 
ment of Penance.4® The beginning of theological studies 
must consequently be assigned also to this time. 

We say “the beginning of theological studies.” That 
theology alone was concerned, or, more exactly, the study 
of Scripture, is beyond doubt, and will be explained later.*! 
It is likewise beyond doubt that the study of Scripture 
was very limited. For, as severely as the Church de- 
manded education from her preachers in the beginning 
of the thirteenth century, the amount of knowledge with 
which she had to be contented was at best only small.*? 
Even the Dominicans in 1228 exacted of the predicatores 
generales, who were active among the heretics, only three 
years of study, while ordinary preachers were admitted to 
the pulpit after one year.4? In the beginning the require- 
ments must have been still less. Among the Franciscans 
the achievements were no doubt even poorer. Most likely 
they restricted themselves to the reading (studium) of 
the Scriptures. 

The latter, however, Francis also demanded from those 
brothers who were entrusted with the office of preaching. 


36 THEIDEALSOFST.FRANCIS 


Bonaventure writes against William of St. Amour, the 
enemy of Franciscan studies: “In order that you may 
know how highly Francis esteemed the study of the 
Scripture, hear the following. A brother who is still 
alive, related to me that at his time there was only one 
Testament at hand, and consequently the Scriptures were 
not available to all the Friars of the house. Francis 
therefore cut up the book and distributed the loose leaves 
among the brothers, in order that they might all study and 
not disturb one another.” ** This obviously has reference 
to the first ten years of the Order. Later, when Francis 
could no longer read because of the ailment of his eyes, 
he recalled his former zeal in reading the holy Book, and 
recommended it strongly to the brothers as a means of 
broadening their knowledge of theology.” He wished, 
according to the testimony of Thomas of Celano, that the 
preachers of the divine Word apply themselves to sacred 
studies to the exclusion of all other occupations; this was 
demanded by their office, according to which they were set 
aside by Divine Providence to announce to the people the 
decrees which they had heard from the lips of their Great 
King.*® 

In full accord with this are the precepts which he em- 
bodied in the final rule a few years after he had begun 
the preaching of the Scriptures. Express regulations on 
study, it is true, are not to be found in it, and cannot be 
expected. None of the older Orders legislated on the 
nature of studies.” Not even St. Dominic did this, al- 
though he always laid great stress on study.*8 Francis 
likewise at first only in a general way determines the 
occupations of the Friars, be they clerics or lay brothers: 
“Let those brothers to whom God has given the grace to 
work, labor faithfully and devoutly, so that they shun idle- 
ness, which is the enemy of the soul, and not destroy the 
spirit of prayer and devotion, to which all other things 
must be subservient.” 49 In another place it has been 
shown that he thereby wished to oblige the clerics to apply 


EORSAGN WiDr oy. | EINE H 357 


themselves to mental pursuits as zealously as the lay 
brothers to manual labor.’ 

This is evident also from the precept of the rule which 
reads: “Let not those who are ignorant of letters care to 
learn letters.” 5! In other words, the !ay brothers should 
not study. This was always a principle with Francis. 
From the very beginning he gave them an Office which 
could be said even by the illiterate; he even went so far 
as to forbid them the reading of the Psalter; °* and he 
never allowed a lay brother to apply himself to studies. 
All, lay brothers as well as clerics, were to remain true to 
their respective calling and its proper pursuits.°? 

Herewith it is expressed plainly that clerics are obliged 
to the studies of their state. On this score Francis had 
already passed a decision. The question once having been 
put to him, whether the educated men who had entered 
the Order should pursue the study of Holy Scripture, he 
answered unhesitatingly in the affirmative.°* St. Bona- 
venture comments on this as follows: “I say, therefore, 
that the rule does not forbid study to the educated and the 
clerics, but only to lay brothers. It wishes, according to 
the word of the Apostle,?® that everyone should be true to 
the calling in which he is called; that no one may change 
from the brotherhood to the priesthood, that on the other 
hand the clerics may become lay brothers by neglecting 
their studies; otherwise one would be forced to consider 
Francis himself as an infringer of his rule. For he, who 
enjoyed only a modest education, as a Religious made 
progress in learning, not only by means of prayer, but also 
by diligent study.” °° 

In the chapter of the rule “On the Preachers,” the 
obligation to study is imposed still more distinctly on the 
clerics. We read therein: “Let no one of the Friars dare 
to preach in any way to the people, unless he has been 
examined and approved by the Minister General of this 
brotherhood, and the office of preaching conceded to him 
by the latter.” ®” Now it is evident that an examination 


B68.) OP HB DARE oO ITS FAR Zu N Be 


for the office of preaching presupposes commensurate 
study. Gregory IX, a co-editor of the rule, as is known, 
furthermore states what degree of learning was required 
of the candidates. Scarcely four years after the death 
of Francis, this Pontiff states that the required test must 
establish that the future preacher “has been instructed in 
sacred theology and oratory.” °° In substance he says the 
same in another Bull, wherein is ordained that only such 
Friars be promoted to the office of preaching who “are 
versed in the Holy Scriptures.” °? Since it was a question 
of approbation for the preaching of the Scriptures, it is 
clear that the study of the same and knowledge of Scrip- 
tural theology is thereby demanded. 

The final words of this chapter of the rule are to be 
understood in accordance with the above: “I warn and 
admonish the same brothers that in the preaching they do, 
their words be fire-tried and pure, for the utility and 
edification of the people, announcing to them vices and 
virtues, punishment and glory, with brevity of speech, 
because the Lord made His word short upon earth.” 60 
Roger Bacon in his droll way, and not without a thrust 
at the “porphyrian” method of preaching then in vogue, 
comments on this in the following manner: ® “Many 
„things necessary for the salvation of men are easy, such as 
the understanding of virtues and vices, the heavenly 
glory, and the punishments of purgatory and hell. About 
these not only the Religious, as theologians, but also all 
clerics and laics and old women know much. For there 
is enclosed in every heart a great book on the vices which 
each one has committed himself from youth and which 
he has seen others commit. Thus even peasants and old 
women know how to discourse convincingly on virtue and 
vice, on reward and punishment, not only among Chris- 
tians, but also to the Saracens and other infidels. Besides, 
every Christian from his customary religious instruction 
has an extensive knowledge of what is necessary to eternal 
happiness. For this reason it is not difficult for the study- 


BRANGESCAN/SE BEINIZE 359 


ing Orders (the Mendicants) to speak to the people of 
virtue and vice, of punishment and glory; and that, all the 
more since in Holy Writ there are many things self- 
evident to the ordinary man who can read and who studies 
the works of the Fathers.” °? 

Nevertheless, the text of the rule in question should not 
be restricted, after the above considerations, to the mere 
moral content of the sermon, although in a literal sense it 
mentions only this. It refers also to the practical Scrip- 
ture sermon ®* and accordingly demands also a corre- 
sponding knowledge of the Scriptures and of theology. 
At the close of the twelfth and the beginning of the thir- 
teenth century, theology in general as well as preaching 
laid the greatest stress on the practical side of the revealed 
truth. Thus, for instance, the renowned teacher and 
orator Peter Cantor (died 1198) in his Verbum abbre- 
viatum writes only “ad vitiorum singulorum redargutionem 
et ad virtutum et morum commendationem et operum 
nostrorum directionem.” ®** The Verbum abbreviatum was 
to be considered an epitome of the theological-homiletic 
course of the author. In a similar sense there must have 
been demanded of the Minorite preachers since 1223 a 
summary knowledge of theology or of the Holy Scrip- 
tures, with their practical application to everyday life. 

In fact, Thomas of Eccleston testifies of the Friars 
studying under Robert Grosseteste at Oxford since the 
year 1225 as follows: “Sub quo inestimabiliter infra 
breve tempus tam in quaestsonsbus quam prediction con- 
gruis subtilibus moralitatibus profecerunt.”’ © The ex- 
pression “subtile moralities” and much less that of “ques- 
tions,” should not be rendered by the general term “moral 
doctrine.” We know for certain that the Franciscan doc- 
tor, Grosseteste, used not only the entire Bible as a basis 
for his lectures, but philosophy and the natural sciences 
also were copiously drawn upon in the interest of a solid 
and practical exegesis.° Furthermore, at this time we 
hear of the Famous Dominican, John de St. Aegidio, 


360; TEIEITDEAT SO Hees Rs SNe TS 


professor at the University of Paris, being called “suavis- 
simus moralizator,®’ and also of his confrere Master 
Richard Fitzacre being greatly lauded for his “splendid 
moralizings.” 6® In both cases the sense is: these men 
knew how to combine in a striking manner theological 
depth in the study of Scripture with a happy application 
to everyday life. When we therefore read that in Eng- 
land between the years 1224-1236 the Minorites were pro- 
moted to the office of preaching because of the “subtile 
moralizings” which they had acquired from the schools, 
this can mean but one thing: they studied the Scriptures 
with constant stress on its theological content as well as 
on its practical value and its adaptation to preaching. 
Thomas of Eccleston interprets his own words when in 
his Collation on ‘““The Promotion of Preachers’ he says: 
“Although the [first English] Friars endeavored earnestly 
to preserve in all things the greatest simplicity and the 
purity of conscience, still they were so zealous in hearing 
the divine law and in their scholastic exercises, that they 
were not deterred from going daily barefoot, in bitter 
cold or through deep mire, to the schools of theology, no 
matter how distant these might be.” °° 

In those days progress in the sciences did not perhaps 
keep equal pace in all provinces of the Order; yet by the 
singularly rapid advance which studies made in the Mendi- 
cant Orders of the twelfth century, the intellectual niveau 
of the Friars set aside for preaching was constantly on the 
ascent,” 

It may be readily concluded from the above that the 
development of the schools of the Order kept abreast of 
the progress of the sciences taught in them. Up to the 
time of the final codification of the rule, the brothers were 
thrown upon their private resources for study. Soon 
after, however, they attended lectures on theology either 
outside their houses or at home. The first teacher of the 
Order appointed by Francis himself was St. Anthony of 
Padua.’ Most likely the Founder imposed the office of 


BRAIN EIIGANISCHENIGBR 361 


teaching upon him the same year in which the rule was 
approved by Papal Bull”? To manifest his reverence 
for the teacher of theology, he addressed Anthony with 
the title: “To Brother Anthony, my Bishop.” 7 We 
meet with this extraordinary reverence for the teachers 
of theology often in the life and writings of the Saint. 
Regarding his journey to the Orient in 1219 the Chronicle 
of Jordan of Giano recounts the following: “Because 
Brother Peter [Catanei] was a learned man and of noble 
mind, Francis in his politeness always addressed him 
‘Lord’ [not Brother], in order thus to honor him. And 
this mutual reverence they observed not only beyond the 
sea, but also in Italy.” “4 The oldest biographer adds that 
from the time that learned men began to enter the Order, 
Francis always treated them as lords and respected learn- 
ing in them.” Whenever he gives expression to his 
reverence for teachers, he always emphasizes the fact 
that the teachers of theology deserved greater marks of 
veneration.’® Even in his Testament he admonishes the 
brothers to honor the teachers of sacred theology and to 
esteem them highly as men dispensing spirit and life.7 
Francis was therefore devoted to the teaching of theology 
from innermost conviction. 

To this was added the external circumstance that the 
number of clerics in the Order was on the increase from 
day to day. Francis had scarcely entered the field of 
preaching, before the Order experienced a remarkable 
increase in the number of its clerics.78 When the Founder 
soon afterward (1212-13) undertook his apostolic journey 
to Syria and afterward to Spain, a large group of clerics 
joined him at Ancona,’® and likewise on his return to St. 
Mary of the Angels.8° A sermon which he delivered at 
Alcoli had the same result. Soon this increase of clerics 
became a daily occurrence.®? Already, before 1216, a 
multitude of clerics and educated men had joined the 
Friars, if we are to place any credence in the testimony 
of the Chronicler Matthew of Paris.°® In 1219 Cardinal 


362." TEE Be DEA © OURS. DRE aie Gale 


Jacques de Vitry himself was an eye-witness of the in- 
fluence which the sermons of St. Francis and his Friars 
wielded over the educated knights of the army before 
Damietta. A large number of the Cardinal’s circle of 
clerical friends instantly joined the Order, while others 
could be persuaded only by great effort to remain in the 
army and in the diocese.®* Even during the lifetime of 
the Saint, great numbers of scholars joined the Fran- 
ciscans at Paris, Oxford and at other places.®? It is only 
logical to conclude that these young men, who evidently 
were to continue their studies, had to be instructed in 
theology. 

But even aside from this it was the wish of the Church 
that the Mendicants should occupy themselves with teach- 
ing as well as with preaching, for the benefit of the 
secular and regular clergy. For no matter how active 
intellectual life had become at the universities in the 
beginning of the thirteenth century, and no matter how 
meritorious the few other special studies may have been 
for the training of the clergy, they were able to influence 
only narrow circles of the priesthood. The majority of 
the priests, especially in rural districts, were ignorant; 
they mastered scarcely enough Latin to read the Breviary. 
Synods and Popes constantly raised protest against this 
sad state of affairs, and demanded the founding of schools. 
But to no avail; even the regulation of the Fourth Council 
of the Lateran demanding the appointment of a teacher 
of grammar in every episcopal see, and a doctor of the- 
ology at every metropolitan church, was left unheeded. 
The reform of studies remained a burning question which 
neither the secular clergy nor the older Orders could or 
would solve.®® 

In this strait the Church turned to the two so-called 
“teaching Orders.” 8’ The Papacy, attacking the task of 
the reform of studies with all vigor, found that it could 
marshal the flying squadrons of St. Dominic and St. 
Francis fully and freely. At that time the Mendicant 


FRANCISCANSCIENCE 363 


Orders were engaged with their final organization, and 
this task they accomplished while remaining in closest 
touch with the Roman Curia. Hence it was but natural 
that this desire of the Curia to reform the studies, should 
also become dear to them. The Dominicans, immediately 
after the approval of their rule (1216), set out with sails 
spread for the goal of intellectual activity assigned to 
them. That the Franciscans would soon follow in their 
wake, was to be expected all the more since the three 
great personalities who were directing this reform with 
such admirable zeal, had mapped out the entire course for 
the Order: Innocent III (died 1216), Honorius III 
(1227), and Gregory IX (died 1241). Especially, since 
Honorius III was represented among the Franciscans by 
two of the most prominent promoters of science, Cardinal 
Hugolino, afterward Gregory IX, and Brother Elias of 
Cortona,®® the Order felt itself obliged to aid in the re- 
form of studies. The fact, on the other hand, that Fran- 
cis himself chose Hugolino as Cardinal Protector of the 
Order (since 1221), and with whom he remained in 
closest friendship until death,8® proved anew how deeply 
the Holy Founder was concerned about the study of 
sciences in his young Order. 

We find in fact that even during the lifetime of the 
Saint the Friars began to attend the three most famous 
seats of learning, the universities of Bologna, Paris and 
Oxford.®® At these intellectual citadels, whither scholars 
congregated by the thousands, where the student fra- 
ternities formed cities of their own within the cities, 
where the most illustrious doctors appeared as preachers 
of the Word of God, where therefore preachers and stu- 
dents were educated together, a successful training could 
be accomplished only on the basis of a thorough theo- 
logical schooling. It became consequently a necessity that 
provision be made for capable preachers, and accordingly 
for the alumni of the Order, in such wise that the Order 
could command respect from the standpoint of science as 


364. EG EDP Es TO BIS SH ee eal 


well. The entrance of many scholars and teachers into 
the Order increased this demand still more and gave it a 
practical expression in so far as individual teachers who 
had assumed the poor habit of St. Francis with their 
hearers, began to continue their lectures henceforth in 
the monastery; and thus the colleges of the Minorites 
gradually developed into the most frequented of the uni- 
versity schools. 

And just as Bologna, Oxford and Paris became the 
standard-bearers of the entire development of the medi- 
eval universities, thus, as can be readily proved, the early 
Franciscan schools took their rise at these three centers of 
higher learning, and gradually ramified into a vast net- 
work of schools throughout the entire Order. We know 
that already at the beginning of the thirteenth century the 
secular clergy at the University of Paris fomented a bitter 
strife against the Dominican and Franciscan schools, 
prompted by pure jealousy. On this occasion St. Thomas 
Aquinas proved that up to that date the secular clergy 
had not succeeded in carrying out the injunction of the 
Fourth Lateran Council with regard to the establishment 
of the most essential schools of learning, whereas the 
Mendicants had achieved far more than the Church had 
ever dared demand.?! The hostile professors themselves 
complain in 1254 that the Mendicants held all the chairs 
of theology in all the cities and in the larger towns, so 
that secular professors hardly found an audience.®*? Roger 
Bacon’s statement agrees with this complaint. He writes 
in 1271: “Never was there seen such a budding forth of 
knowledge, nor so great a zeal for study in so many 
schools and in so many places, as in the last forty years. 
Everywhere we now find teachers; especially in theology 
there are doctors to be found in every city, in every town 
and important village. This is the case only since the last 
forty years, and it is due mostly to the activity of the two 
teaching Orders.” % 

Thus within a few decades the Mendicants had solved 


FRANCISCAN SCIENCE 365 


the problem of the Church in regard to studies, not only 
for themselves, but also for the secular clergy. For, as 
can be gleaned from the assertions of St. Thomas, the 
Paris professors and Roger Bacon quoted above, it is 
clear that the secular clergy to a great extent studied with 
the Mendicants 9? and that these were the chief support of 
the entire system of ecclesiastical culture, or pedagogy, 
science and literature. The dependence of the clergy on 
the Mendicants was so marked that Roger Bacon declares: 
“In the last forty years the secular clergy have not written 
a single book of theology, and they are convinced that 
they know nothing unless they have spent ten or more 
years in study with the members of the two Orders. 
They do not risk reading the Sentences, nor to advance in 
theology, nor to hold a lection, a disputation, or a ser- 
mon, unless it be taken from the books of the beggar 
monks. All this is evident to everyone, at the University 
of Paris as well as elsewhere.” % 

We are now in a position to understand how fully this 
Franciscan activity in the schools found an outlet in the 
Franciscan apostolate. The same Holy Scripture was 
expounded on the chair as on the pulpit, there in a more 
scientific, here in a popular form; what the sermon was 
for the simple faithful, that the lecture was for the 
learned theologian. The lecture was simply the sermon 
for the clerics. Moreover, in the school the clerics were 
trained and fitted out for the office of preaching; the 
school was thus the breeding cell of the apostolate of the 
world. Even this is saying too little; the school was only 
the beginning, so to say, of the office of preaching, just 
as preaching was the fulfilment and the end of all scho- 
lastic study ; both together formed the two integral parts 
of the one religious system of teaching.”® 

Francis no doubt did not grasp the full significance of 
science for the apostolate of his disciples, and still less 
did he originate or even imagine the mighty development 
which science experienced in his Order. This develop- 


366... "EH wD TAGS OS Leer Rea 


ment, however, lay hidden as in a germ in the idea of the 
apostolate which he enjoined on his brothers; it was 
simply the direct continuation of the development which 
the Order had begun even in his time; it was, in the 
last instance, but the echo of the admonition of the dying 
Saint: “Let us honor and esteem all the theologians and 
those who preach to us the word of God [Holy Scrip- 
ture], because they impart to us spirit and life.” 

2. For Francis, however, the problem remained of har- 
monizing science with the Apostolic life. He could ap- 
prove only such a science as did not interfere with his 
apostolic Ideal. The points where a collision threatened 
were poverty, humility or simplicsty, and piety. It is evi- 
dent that learning might in many instances conflict with 
this triple constellation of seraphic virtues, and so it 
needed no gift of prophecy but just human prudence and 
knowledge of the world on the part of Francis to cause 
him to look forward with anxiety to this intellectual ac- 
tivity in the Order. 

The most difficult part of the problem, as later years 
showed, was to pair the rigid poverty of the Order with 
science; more directly, to join the complete renunciation 
of all earthly things with the possession of necessary 
books. Let us seek to discover from the tangle of con- 
fused reports what Francis in reality thought of this 
matter. 

For a better understanding of this question let it be 
remarked that besides the primitive sources, also the 
Speculum perfectionis, the writings of the leaders of the 
Spirituals, Angelus of Clarino and Ubertinus of Casale, 
are critically of value to us. The Speculum treats our 
subject chiefly in the second chapter, in the very part 
which can be traced with the greatest evidence and cer- 
tainty to Brother Leo, the secretary of St. Francis.?? 
Angelus of Clarino supports his assertions on the relevant 
statements of Brother Leo; ?® Ubertinus repeatedly asserts 
that for his communications he has drawn on a manu- 


ERANGTISGZEN SCHEIN GE 367 


script of Brother Leo, as well as on the “Rotuli fratris 
Leonis,” and that, besides, he had his views confirmed by 
personal friends of St. Francis?” When we consider 
that these testimonies were written in the heat of the con- 
flict over the ideals of poverty, and could never be refuted 
by the Community, one is not inclined to dispute their 
evidence. Besides, it happens that they are in full accord 
with the oldest biographies. All this entitles us to ascribe 
the statements traced by the Speculum, by Angelus and 
Ubertinus to Brother Leo; in fact, to this secretary and 
companion of the Holy Founder. This is so far of prime 
importance, since these accounts contain very weighty 
confirmation and supplements to the other sources of in- 
formation on the question of poverty. 

First of all, it is established that Francis did not intend 
to forbid books to his brothers and monasteries. He al- 
lowed indeed only the use of those things which were 
necessary to their livelihood and becoming to their voca- 
tion. Under this category, however, he reckoned no doubt 
the indispensable books. Even in the oldest houses we 
find books for the common use of the brothers, as the 
Three Companions relate.° According to Thomas of 
Celano, Francis warned only against luxury in books: the 
brothers should seek in books only the word of God, and 
not costly bindings; edification, and not the beauty of 
furnishings. He desired, however, that some books be 
always at hand, which might be supplied to the brothers 
as they might need them.!"! St. Bonaventure explains 
that Francis neither would nor could forbid books to the 
brothers. The Friars, writes the Seraphic Doctor, are 
obliged by the command of their Founder to preach. If 
they are not to preach fables, but the Word of God, and 
if they cannot know this without reading it, which is im- 
possible without books, it follows, obviously, that to pos- 
sess books belongs just as strictly to the perfection of 
Franciscan life, as to preach. And as little as it com- 
promises the poverty of the Order to keep Missals for 


368 DHERIDEALS OR ST IB Ana 


reading Mass, or Breviaries for reciting the canonical 
hours of the Church, just so little does it injure poverty 
to have and to retain the Holy Scriptures and other books 
necessary to the proper exercise of the office of preach- 
ing. Thus books are by no means forbidden to the 
Friars.1°2 Ubertinus also declares that he agrees with this 
view, and that Brother Leo once related as witness that 
Francis wished a common library in every house, supplied 
with sufficient, though plain and not superfluous and 
precious, volumes.2°% 

In the lifetime of the Saint a common library with a 
few volumes was considered sufficient. Not only Francis, 
but the Order in general, as we shall presently see, de- 
manded that studies be limited to theology; and this study 
consisted in a comparative exegesis of Holy Scripture, to 
which were added commentaries from the words of the 
Fathers: “in dictis sanctorum et textu biblie compara- 
tive.’ 1° One could thus content himself with the Scrip- 
tures and some writings of the Fathers, with a textual 
concordance of the latter, respectively. With the mighty 
development which studies underwent, both in depth and in 
extent, these monastic libraries had to be accordingly ex- 
panded. The question was therefore to take into account 
the new inevitable conditions and yet exclude all owner- 
ship of books and movable property. The only possible 
settlement of this problem was that the Church assume the 
ownership of these things and then entrust them to the 
Friars for their use. In 1230 Gregory IX gave his sanc- 
tion to this solution, of the question of books and libraries, 
and declared that this was in accerd with the well-known 
intentions of his friend, Francis.!°° The same view forms 
the basis of the decree of Nicholas III, Exit qui seminat 
of the year 1279.19 Ubertinus, in the name of the 
Spiritual zealots, accepts this view in the sense that 
smaller or larger libraries should exist according to the 
needs and importance of individual houses, and that 
books might be given to the individual Religious as their 


Isiss Ves dood LIE INTACTESIINVIHELS 





we 


iy 


“4 





ERANERBSTANIISCHEN GE 369 


calling and office demanded: after they had been used, 
however, or after their term had expired, these books 
were to be restored to the common library, so that other 
Friars might use them also.1°7 

As certain as it is that Francis permitted books in com- 
mon, so certain it is that he allowed no brother to have a 
private collection of books. Thomas of Celano !% and the 
Three Companions !0 insist most emphatically on this 
point. They stress the fact that the Holy Founder al- 
lowed libraries common to the entire Community only. 
Thomas of Celano moreover relates that a certain Provin- 
cial approached Francis for permission to retain for him- 
self some ornamented and costly books. Francis answered 
laconically: “I will not lose the Gospels, which I have 
promised to observe, on account of thy books. Do as thou 
pleasest, but thou shalt never do it with my consent.” 11° 
This anecdote and others of a similar nature are recorded 
by Brother Leo.!!! For in this matter more than in any 
other it is to be emphasized that the authors of these ac- 
counts stubbornly cite the manuscript relics of Brother 
Leo and of other first disciples of Francis without fear of 
being charged with falsehood.?!” 

The declaration made to Brother Riger by Francis is 
significant. To the question whether it could be justified 
to possess an amount of books for personal use under the 
pretext that these belonged to the Order and not to the 
person, the Saint replied: “My first and last will was and 
is, that the Friars possess nothing but habit, cord and 
breeches.” 113 Francis repeatedly gave the same answer to 
similar casuistic questions, always with reference to the 
question of poverty.!!* 

From the instances mentioned above, it is clear that 
there was no question of allowing or refusing proprietary 
rights over books to any individual Friar. That such own- 
ership was not even to be considered, was self-evident. 
The question was of an entirely different nature. A Friar 
Minor is not affiliated with a particular house; he travels 


370, DEL ER DIAS (© i Lier ais EN es 


much and often. May he carry with him from place to 
place the books he thinks of personal service? Francis 
‚denied this, as Ubertinus of Casale expressly adds. 

It is true, he says, that Francis desired books to be at 
hand in every house. “Nevertheless it was by no means 
the intention of our Blessed Father Francis that indi- 
vidual Friars might collect a bag of books and own them, 
carrying them with themselves whenever their residence 
was changed.” 145 On the*contrary, no Friar whatsoever 
was permitted to dispose of a single book according to 
caprice, or to carry it with him from place to place, not 
even when this was given him as a present by friends, 
or as a memento by relatives.4® Everyone should draw 
on the common library for the books required by his 
need and office and talent, and replace the same when 
finished.” If he be removed to-day or to-morrow, he 
should take with him only the garment he wore at the 
time 118 and his Breviary, in order to pray the canonical 
hours.t13 

There was indeed no lack of Friars who objected to the 
view of the Saint on this point.17° Several of these 
demanded permission to keep certain books and to carry 
them with them in exceptional cases.!** Although the 
Saint at times tolerated this in silence,1?? he personally 
nevertheless clung to his original principle.** Even at 
the end of his life he demanded of his successor that he 
be no collector of books, but should content himself with 
one small book, together with writing materials and the 
seal for the affairs of the Order.1*4 

Yet the constantly increasing demands became stronger 
than the primitive Ideal. The complaints of the Speculum 
and Ubertinus, which were traced to Brother Leo, show 
that the Friars often took with them from place to place 
the books which they thought indispensable. The 
Chronicler Matthew of Paris also notes about the year 
1225 that the Friars carried with them on their journeys 
a small collection of books in a bag.!?? Five years later 


REIN EESTEANISCHEN CE 371 


St. Bonaventure regulated this matter in the oldest con- 
stitutions of the Order at the General Chapter held at 
Narbonne in 1260. It was conceded that individual Friars 
might have a certain number of books for private use 
and take them along from house to house, indeed, even 
from province to province; yet it was ordained that they 
must have permission for this from their provincial, and 
that after the death of the brother in question, the books 
should be returned to his home province.1*® 

“To be poor” meant for Francis 1*7 not only to renounce 
all temporal possessions, but also spiritual ownership; and 
with the renunciation of “mine” and “thine” to regulate 
the no less egotistic “I,” and to sanctify it by humslity 
and simplicity. We have already seen how these two 
virtues were to shine forth in Franciscan savants and to 
give the entire Franciscan system of science its peculiar 
trait.1°° It also becomes evident how nobly and com- 
prehensively Francis conceived the harmony which should 
exist between learning and humility; how far he was 
from stressing humility at the expense of science, or 
science at the expense of humility; and how firmly he 
was convinced that genuine science tends toward humility, 
simplicity and modesty. 

But the renunciation of self and of the world through 
humility and poverty did not suffice. Francis demanded 
that student Friars strive for union with God through 
piety. What he prescribes to the lay brothers in regard 
to manual labor, applies clearly and in a special manner 
to those engaged with intellectual pursuits: “Let those 
brothers to whom the Lord has given the grace of work- 
ing, labor faithfully and devoutly, so that in banishing 
idleness, which is the enemy of the soul, they do not 
extinguish the spirit of holy prayer and devotion, to which 
all temporal things must be subservient.” 1°® In this strain 
Francis likewise expressed his views on the relation be- 
tween study and prayer when he wrote to St. Anthony.?*° 


272 © Ts Fis MDR ALS 90) ists ay FE aN Ce 


The chief stress was to be laid on prayer ; learning should 
guide prayer, and prayer enlighten learning.!?! 

It pained him deeply to behold some of the Friars 
neglecting the inner life in order to apply themselves to 
study. At such times he was wont to say: “Those 
brothers who allow themselves to be misguided by a vain 
curiosity for learning will find themselves empty-handed 
on the day of reckoning. I would much rather they were 
strong in virtue, in order that when the time of tribula- 
tion overtakes them, they might have the Lord with them 
in their need. For tribulation will come on them when 
books will avail them naught, but will be cast into 
crevices and corners.” 18? Thomas of Celano remarks 
hereto: “Francis spoke thus, not that he wished to dis- 
courage the study of the Holy Scriptures, but because he 
wished to restrain all the Friars from immoderate curi- 
osity in learning, and would rather that they were 
proficient in the perfection of charity, than filled with 
vain knowledge. He foresaw, moreover, the not far dis- 
tant time when learning would be an occasion of ruin, 
but the spirit remains always to religious men a sup- 
port.” 133 He even then already pointed out that “many 
bent all their energies by day and by night to the acquisi- 
tion of learning alone, and in this way became disloyal to 
their vocation, to holy and devout prayer.” 13? 

As far as this vocation was regarded, Francis believed 
not only that prayer was to be preferred to every kind 
of learning, but he recognized and recommended only 
theological studies. 

If we compare the various utterances of the Saint on 
the subject of studies in his Order, we find only such 
expressions as “spiritual study,” “study of wisdom,” 
“study of Holy Scriptures,” “science of holy theology.” 
We know that all these terms denote one and the same 
thing: theology. Nowhere do we find mention of the 
secular sciences, or of philosophy. The question 
whether these were permissible in the Order or not, seems 


PRAN GES CANS CLEMGE 373 


never to have been put to him. Had he been asked, he 
no doubt would have answered in the negative. 

In those days this was understood without further ado. 
Before the thirteenth century, philosophy was not taught 
in the schools of Europe.18® Whoever wished to enter 
the professions of theology, law or medicine, needed only 
the knowledge of grammar, that is, a working knowledge 
of Latin, the tongue of the cultured, and perhaps a 
smattering of logic, which was merely an introduction 
to the forms of speech in vogue in the schools. The 
Aristotelian dialectics first became general among the 
Western scholars in the twelfth century; in the beginning 
of the thirteenth century, the Aristotelian physics, meta- 
physics and works on the natural sciences began to be- 
come known through translation.??” Thus suddenly the 
unsuspected treasures of Greek culture were opened to 
the literary world. 

Their exploitation however seemed unworthy of 
Christian science, more especially of theology. They were 
furthermore accompanied with dangers to the Faith. 
With all his geniality the Stagirite was replete with the 
spirit of paganism. Added to this was the fact that the 
translations of his works were made by the Arabic 
philosophers and were imported together with the com- 
mentaries of Avicenna and Averroes from the Moorish 
peninsula of Spain. There was therefore in fact a ques- 
tion of Arabic philosophy, which, built upon a much 
falsified Aristotelism, lent support to Hedonism and 
Deism, and would have become more dangerous to 
Christian Europe than the arms of Islam. The Church 
looked forward to this threatening evil with anxiety. 
Since 1210 she repeatedly forbade the Parisian faculty to 
hold lectures on Aristotelian physics and metaphysics until 
the errors contained therein were expunged, and admon- 
ished the theologians to expound the Word of God ac- 
cording to the commentaries of the Fathers, instead of 
having recourse to godless pagan philosophers.138 


374 THEIDEALSOFST.FRANCIS 


The Religious Orders sounded the warning clarion even 
more loudly. Not to mention the monks who were not 
occupied with science, we read in the oldest constitutions 
of the Dominican Order: “The brothers should study no 
pagan philosophers, except they merely scan their works 
cursorily. They should not take up any secular science, 
unless the Master General or the General Chapter wish 
to make an exception for the one or other Religious. All 
others, young as well as old, may read only theological 
works.” 189 We have seen that Francis and the first 
Franciscans were opposed just as firmly to the study of 
philosophy, and we now fully understand their attitude. 

Soon, however, a change of opinion in favor of Aristotle 
set in all along the line. Efforts were made to eradicate 
the errors from his works and from the commentaries 
of his exponents, and to render their colossal intellectual 
products fertile for Christian science. This was sig- 
nificantly sooner the case at the Franciscan schools of 
Oxford and Paris than anywhere else. Since 1225, the 
learned Franciscan Robert Grosseteste of Oxford had 
drawn not only the natural sciences and philology, but 
also the study of philosophy into the service of theology. 
His disciple, Adam of Marsh, continued this work until 
the time of Roger Bacon. Bacon, who was a product of 
their school, does not hesitate to place both teachers at the 
side of Aristotle and Avicenna, and to acknowledge that 
he himself follows “those wonderful trails” which they 
had blazed for him.!* 

The school of the Parisian Minorites underwent a sim- 
ilar transformation about the year 1231, under the leader- 
ship of the great master, Alexander of Hales. As the 
pioneer among the Summistae he introduced the complete 
works of the Stagirite into theological literature; applied 
in numberless passages the speculations of the Philosopher 
and of his exponents Avicenna and Averroes to Christian 
dogma; corrected false views, and exposed the sophisms 
of the Arabic philosophers. He rendered the entire forces 


FRANEISTANSCTEN GE 375 


of Aristotelian dialectics subservient to theological re- 
search, with the firm conviction that Scholasticism would 
receive a truly gigantic impetus through Aristotle. Thus 
he paved the way on which the future intellectual heroes 
Albertus, Thomas, Bonaventure and Duns Scotus were to 
press on to immortal fame.!*! His disciple and successor, 
John de Rupella (died 1245), went in fact so far as to 
not only disapprove, in a public sermon, of the heated 
opposition to Aristotle and his philosophy, but even 
branded such antagonism as called forth by Satan. Com- 
menting on a passage of Scripture he says: “Now there 
was no smith to be found in all the land of Israel; for 
the Philistines had taken the precaution, lest the Hebrews 
should make them swords or spears.14* The smiths are 
the teachers of philosophy. Behold how they forge their 
unbending, invincible objections which pierce the mind 
like a sword; behold how their arguments penetrate like 
gleaming lances. For this reason Satan sets everything 
in motion to make the study of philosophy impossible; 
for he does not wish that the faithful possess a keen 
inteHert. > 

After the example of the two general study houses of 
Oxford and Paris, philosophy was introduced into other 
colleges of the Order during the generalate of Crescentius 
of Jesi (1244-1247). Angelus of Clarino says expressly 
that under Crescentius “the Egyptian plagues of the black 
arts of Aristotle descended on the Order,’ 144 and that, 
besides other excesses contrary to the rule, “an insatiable 
craving for learning” had become prevalent, which at all 
costs “aimed at introducing worldly sciences and erecting 
a multitude of schools for these branches.” Especially in 
Italy, he continues, there were many Friars who “pre- 
ferred the vain and barren learning of Aristotle, neglect- 
ing their prayers, and who eagerly desired to hear the 
doctrine of the natural sciences and dialectics, and in- 
creased the study of the same with burning ardor.” 1* 
It was at this juncture that the opposition of the Spirituals 


376% "DELEILD:BARE SSOTSS TIEREN > 


to profane studies set in with full might !*% and became 
more and more bitter, until it in the end aided as a power- 
ful factor in the final separation of these zealots from 
the Order. 

The Spirituals of former times had complained only 
of the immoderate study of philosophy and science in 
general, at the cost of piety and the spirit of prayer. Thus, 
the Minister General John of Parma (1247-1257) very 
emphatically asserts that the structure of the Order rests 
on two buttresses, virtue and learning; he deplores how- 
ever (with reference to the dialectic treatment of theo- 
logical truths), that they had built the buttress of learning 
“higher than the heavens,” but that of virtue far too 
low.!*? Peter John Olivi (died 1297) also deplores the 
excessive emphasis placed on profane learning; although 
he concedes that such study can well be reconciled with 
the Franciscan Ideal, if it be made subservient to theology 
and does not extinguish the spirit of prayer.!* 

The later, extreme Spirituals, however, especially 
Angelus of Clarino and Ubertinus of Casale, condemned 
all philosophic studies on the ground that they did not 
exist at the time of Francis.” They forgot completely 
that in the meantime conditions had undergone a change; 
Greek philosophy had become permeated with the Christian 
Faith; by the aid of Aristotelian philosophy religious 
science had made wonderful progress; the most enlight- 
ened and saintly of men had devoted themselves to 
Scholasticism, which is not thinkable without: Aristotle ; 
the Church guarded Scholastic learning as the apple of 
her eye; and Francis himself, the most obedient son of 
the Church, in consideration of the changed conditions, 
would have declared himself in harmony with the move- 
ment. Only the Spirituals took in this, as in other ques- 
tions, an extremely rigorous stand, allowed the study of 
theology and the apostolate to languish more and more, 
rebelled against the Order, the Pope and the Church, 


ERANGISCAN.SCTEN GE 377 


and were shipwrecked on the reefs of fanaticism (1317- 
1318). 

The only proper position which science could assume wn 
the Order under the changed conditions since the death 
of Francis, had long ago been defined by St. Bonaventure, 
the “second Founder of the Franciscan Order,” equally 
great as theologian and as saint. Against the attacks of 
outsiders and the excesses of the laxists as well as the 
rigorists within the Order, he drew up the following 
regulations for the scholastic activity of his brothers. 

A. The study of theology or of the Holy Scriptures 
is an essential obligation of the Friars because of their 
calling to the apostolate. He writes: “Since the Order 
is bound, by virtue of the profession of the rule, to the 
office of preaching and of hearing confessions, and these 
offices presuppose the knowledge of Holy Scripture, it is 
necessary that we have study houses and teachers of Holy 
Scripture.” 15° And again: “These poor Friars are en- 
gaged with the care of the souls of their neighbors; this 
they cannot do without the help of the Holy Scriptures, 
and the Scriptures they cannot understand thoroughly 
except through the study of theology, which consists in 
the reading, meditation, prayer, hearing, discussion and 
preaching of the Scripture texts. Hence, they are bound 
to this spiritual activity, which because of its difficulty 
taxes the entire man and surpasses all bodily labor in 
sublimity.” 151 Even when the Friars apply themselves to 
other branches of learning “they should never wander 
too far from the home of Holy Scripture,” 1? and when 
they adapt these sciences to theology they must do so with 
moderation. “One must not mix too much water of 
philosophy in the wine of Holy Scripture, lest the wine 
become watery. This would be a sad miracle! Christ 
changed water into wine, not wine into water.” 1°3 

B. Nevertheless, the study of philosophy, and of the 
profane sciences respectively, is justified and necessary 
when they are employed in the interests of theology. 


378 THEIDEALSOFST.FRANCIS 


Bonaventure censures those Friars who waste time on 
vain and unprofitable studies, or cultivate profane sciences 
for their own sake.1?* Philosophical studies are only in 
so far permissible as they are auxiliary to theology, pre- 
pare for it, acknowledge it as their goal, and in this way 
become sanctified.5> Thus understood, Bonaventure 
ascribes to them great importance. His treatise “De re- 
ductione artium ad theologiam’ is a hymn on the harmony 
of all natural science with supernatural knowledge and 
faith. “AI science,” he writes, “has its value for the 
understanding of Holy Scripture; in this they find their 
goal; by this they are perfected, through it they are 
directed to the Eternal Light. ... It is consequently 
evident that the manifold wisdom of God, so brightly 
communicated in the Holy Scriptures, lies hidden in every 
science, and that every science is serviceable to theology. 
And the chief fruit of all learning consists in furnishing 
material for the strengthening of the Faith.” 15° Yes, he 
adds, philosophy is not only useful, but simply indispensa- 
ble. Without philosophy the understanding and the 
defense of dogmatic truths is often impossible; many 
passages of Holy Writ are beyond comprehension without 
the aid of the profane sciences.!?” Philosophy constructs 
from its investigations of the things of nature, a mirror 
in which theology can behold the divine truths. Both 
sciences together form a Jacob’s ladder, whose foot rests 
on the earth of philosophy, and whose top pierces the 
heaven of theology, and all this through Christ Jesus, the 
Lord of the natural as well as the supernatural world 
andetrath nes 

C. On this ladder the brothers should constantly mount 
to heaven by the study of philosophy and theology in the 
spirit of piety. Herein, according to Bonaventure, lies the 
peculiar character of Franciscan science. Dominicans and 
Franciscans distinguish themselves from all other Re- 
ligious by scientific speculation, he explains. He then adds 
the distinctive mark of Dominican and Franciscan science: 


RAIN Gabe AIN n> EBENE 379 


“The Dominicans are occupied mostly with speculative 
science, then with piety; the Franciscans mostly with 
piety, then with speculation. O that this piety and this 
unction may never be given the second place!’ 159 

The embodiment of this Franciscan science we find 
in St. Bonaventure himself. His intimate friend and 
secretary, Bernard of Bessa, testifies of him: “In the 
same measure as one beheld Bonaventure advance with 
wonderful ability in the light of the sciences, and especially 
in Holy Scripture, he also made constant progress in 
grace and devotion. He transformed every truth which 
he grasped with his mind into prayer and praise of God, 
and contemplated them in unceasing elevations of his 
heart.” 16° This constant converse with God imparted 
to his works that marvelous unction and mystical tone 
which won for him undying fame as the Doctor devotus 
and Doctor seraphicus, the devout and seraphic Doctor. 


GHABLERIR MIT 


WHER LE WO he ee Econ Gals 


“TN FRANCIS medieval piety reaches its clearest and 
strongest expresssion,” writes Adolf Harnack.1 And 
Henry Tilemann agrees: “The piety of Francis re- 

veals the type of the religious spirit of the Middle Ages 
in its perfection.” ? Since non-Catholics think thus, piety 
must evidently be the sum, center and substance of the 
Ideals of St. Francis. How is it, then, one might ask, 
that this subject is treated only now and in a special 
chapter? I should like to answer this objection with the 
counter question: how is it that we are to speak of the 
piety of Francis in particular, since the whole book treats 
of it? 

Piety is the directing of the entire man to God; Christian 
piety is the following, the imitation and copying of the 
God-Man, Jesus Christ; piety as understood by all the 
Founders of Orders prior to Francis, was merely a higher 
form of this following, imitation and copying of Jesus 
Christ, insofar as the Religious observed the counsels of 
the Gospel in addition to the commandments of God. The 
prety of the Saint of Assisi differed from this in that he 
strove to fulfil perfectly the entire Gospel in spirit and 
letter, to become like to the Saviour in every way, not only 
in His hidden and contemplative, but also in His public 
and active life. That was the peculiar trait of his Ideal 
of piety. Up to his time either active or contemplative 
life was the motto; Francis declared for contemplative 
and active life joined in one, removing the antithesis by 

380 


LEBE SIDE TNESTEISSEHETRTALNGEET SS 


the higher unity of an all-sided following of Christ. To 
serve one’s neighbor by works of charity and by the 
apostolate for love of Christ, constituted the zenith of 
his piety. Thus, life itself with its manifold aspects be- 
comes for Francis religious piety. When we consider the 
Ideals of this man of God, it is as if we were wandering 
through the halls of a vast cathedral. There remains for 
us yet to penetrate into the innermost sanctuary of the 
temple in order to consider the psety of the Poverello in its 
stricter acceptation :—his life of prayer, his practises of 
prayer, his spirit of prayer. 

I. The term ltfe of prayer is no exaggeration when ap- 
plied to St. Francis. The cordial communion with God 
assumed, in fact, so prominent a place and so wide an 
extent in his life, that his entire existence became as it 
were one continuous prayer. His entire life was “a holy 
leisure,” in which his heart occupied itself with the Eternal 
Wisdom, as one of his biographers remarks.? Prayer 
made up his happiness on earth, the cloudless sunlight of 
his years, the safe harbor in which his heart lay anchored. 
He did not restrict his devotion to moments of time, but 
extended it as long as possible; it seemed he could no 
longer separate himself from God, before whom he lay 
prostrate in humble, unceasing and childlike prayer ; wher- 
ever he went or tarried, in his cell and without, at work 
or at rest, while eating and drinking, always and every- 
where he prayed, so much so that the impression was 
forced upon one that he devoted not only his heart, soul 
and body, but also all his actions and all his time to 
prayer.* 

Everything that might disturb this prayerful mood was 
scrupulously avoided. With untiring zeal he strove to 
keep himself free from all worldly interests, in order that 
the heavenly joy of his soul might not become clouded 
even for an hour with the dust of the earth. He became, 
so to say, insensible to all distractions from without; he 
guarded his external senses so carefully and governed 


382 THEIDEALSOFST.FRANCIS 


every movement of his soul so constantly, that he could 
find no other attraction but in God. With preference he 
dwelt “in the clefts of the rock, and in the hollow places 
of the wall he made his abode.” * He loved to tarry in 
secluded nooks which were especially suited to prayer, 
and when he grew tired and exhausted, he rested all the 
longer and all the more lovingly in the wounds of the 
Saviour.® 

Whenever he was forced to interrupt his prayer to 
devote himself to any business or to receive visitors, he 
withdrew again into the interior of his soul as quickly 
as he could; he was so accustomed to heavenly sweetness 
and to divine joys, that everything human and earthly 
became unsavory and almost unbearable.’ If he was not 
able to rid himself of importunate visitors, he was wont 
to recite the Psalm verse: “Thy words I have hidden in 
my heart, O Lord, that I may not sin against Thee.” ® As 
soon as he uttered these words, the Friars knew that it 
was time to lead the visitors away politely and to dismiss 
them.® 

At one time the Bishop of Assisi called at a moment 
when the Saint was wrapt in deepest prayer in his cell 
at Portiuncula. Out of curiosity, and over-reliant on the 
intimacy of friendship, he knocked rapidly and opened the 
door without waiting for a summons; but he had scarcely 
protruded his head within the narrow door when he began 
to tremble from head to foot, and became speechless with 
terror. In an instant he was forcibly driven out by an 
irresistible power, that he might not witness the mysteries 
of the Saint in prayer.!? Francis was loath to have even 
the Friars know that he held continuous converse with 
God. Early in the morning he would rise noiselessly from 
his pallet, and steal away, that no one might notice how 
early he began his orisons. In the evening, however, when 
he retired, he was wont to cause a stir, almost a noise, that 
all might become aware that he was about to retire. 
This was his customary conduct at home and én his cell. 


THEPIETYOFST.FRANCIS 38 


But also when traveling Francis understood how to cul- 
tivate uninterrupted and hidden prayer. When the 
presence of God began to overwhelm him, he would send 
his companions in advance, and, slacking his own pace, he 
would surrender himself to the delights of the heavenly 
visitation. If he was unable to withdraw himself com- 
pletely from company, he would use his mantle as an 
improvised cell to preserve his recollection and to conceal 
his interior agitation. Had he no mantle, he would conceal 
his face with the sleeves of his habit, in order that the 
heavenly Manna might not be profaned by impertinent 
eyes. If even this ruse failed, he became adept in divert- 
ing the attention of onlookers to various objects, that they 
might not notice the presence of his Beloved. If all else 
failed, he would make his bosom a hidden sanctuary, and 
remained wrapt in God, instead of giving free rein to the 
agitation of his soul in exclamations, deep sighs, groans 
and motions.!? 

Occasionally he became so carried away by contem- 
plation, even in the street among crowds of people, that 
he fell into ecstasy and, absorbed in divine sweetness, be- 
came unconscious of what was transpiring about him. 
Thus, one day he was riding toward Borgo San Sepolcro, 
whence he intended to reach a leper hospital which he had 
chosen as shelter for the night. When the country folk 
heard that he was passing by, they streamed out to meet 
him and to touch his hands and feet with their customary 
reverence. They took hold of him, tugged at his habit and 
cut off pieces from it to preserve them as relics. Francis, 
however, neither felt anything nor knew what was hap- 
pening to him or around him. Finally the little party 
neared the end of their journey and had already left the 
town of Borgo far behind them. Suddenly the Saint came 
out of his ecstasy and inquired anxiously how far it was 
still to Borgo. These experiences were of frequent 
occurrence, as his companions have recorded from their 
own observation.!? 


334. Ts BY TD ASE SCO IRS a FRANCE 


Not even the work of the apostolate was able to dis- 
tract him from prayer. At first blush this seems in- 
credible, considering the prominent place the apostolate 
occupied in his life and in his Order. This was, however, 
his secret of true piety, that his work in the world be 
based on prayer and tend to prayer as well as the various 
occupations at home. Whatever he undertook for the 
welfare of his fellow-men, he first recommended to God 
in fervent prayer.!* He often declared that it was a poor 
division if any priest devote all his strength and time to 
preaching and have little or nothing left for devotion. 
Only that preacher was worthy of praise who thought of 
his own soul first and attended to its needs.!? His motto 
was: “The preacher must first draw from hidden prayer 
what he wishes to communicate afterward in holy dis- 
course; he must first become inwardly warm himself, or 
he will afterward speak only cold words.” 16 

As the brothers turned from prayer to preaching, they 
were also to return from preaching and from contact with 
the world to prayer as quickly as possible. Jacques de 
Vitry asserts that in the beginning the Friars followed 
this advice: “The Friars Minor,” he says, “concern them- 
selves in no way with temporal things, but apply them- 
selves day and night with burning zeal to win back from 
the vanities of the world the souls that have gone astray. 

. By day one sees them going from town to town to 
save their fellow-men by means of the active life; at 
night, however, they retire to their solitary dwellings, in 
order to devote themselves to contemplation and 
prayer.” 17 Francis himself was accustomed to spend the 
greater part of the night in prayer after the labors of the 
day. Brother Bernard observed how he spent whole 
nights, with but a brief interval, in the praise of God 
and of His holy Mother.!$ Indeed, Thomas of Celano 
relates that he often began his prayer in the evening and 
persevered in it till morning.!? 

Not content with this, he often interrupted his apostolic 


IST BEE Dalen eee BIS de eae Ne Cd 54305 


labors for a longer or shorter period, in order to betake 
himself to some secluded hermitage and there devote him- 
self entirely to contemplation. “He had,” as Bonaventure 
says, ‘learned to dispose of the time given to him to gain 
merits so prudently, that he applied one half of it in meri- 
torious work for his fellow-men, and the other in silent 
meditation. After he had labored for the salvation of 
souls, as place and circumstances demanded, he would 
leave the multitudes and seek a solitary place, in order 
to give himself more freely to God and to wipe away the 
dust that might have settled on his soul.” 2° He was ir- 
resistibly attracted to Greccio near Rieti, to Celle near 
Cortona, to the Carceri on Mount Subasio, to Sarziano, 
La Verna, and other hallowed spots, which like oases of 
seraphic peace and sweetest surrender to God, still live in 
the history of the Saint and of his disciples. He had his 
cell built under a projecting rock or in the woods where 
he could be near his brothers and yet give himself entirely 
to heavenly devotion.?! 

In the morning he withdrew to his hermitage, spent the 
whole day in prayer and returned only at night to sup 
with his brothers. Yet he had no fixed time for his return, 
because his spirit wished to enjoy contemplation to the 
full before the body dared demand its rights.” What 
passed between him and God at such times, he never 
revealed to anyone.? When he came from prayer he was 
very careful to act as the others, in order not to betray 
the inner fire which had almost transformed him into 
another man.** He often said to his confidants: ‘When 
a servant of God is visited by Him in prayer, he should 
lift up his eyes to heaven at the end of prayer and speak 
thus with folded hands: ‘This consolation Thou, O Lord, 
hast sent to me, a sinner and ingrate, from heaven, and 
I confide this grace to Thy protection, that Thou mayest 
preserve it for me; for I feel that I am a robber of 
Thy treasure.’ Or: ‘Lord, take Thy gift from me in this 
world and preserve it for me for the future world.’ 


386 M HE Daa Ss Ort) EIERN ET 


When he returns from prayer he should conduct himself 
as a most poor sinner, as though he had received no special 
grace. For,” he continued, “one can barter a priceless 
grace for a small price and cause the Giver not to be so 
generous with His gifts a second time.” 7° 

In spite of this, his companions discovered many things 
about his prayerful solitude. At times they stole after 
him that they might observe him and hear him secretly. 
They then saw and heard how he filled the woods or the 
hermitage with sighs, how he bedewed the earth with 
tears, how he struck his breast and held communion with 
the Lord as with an intimate friend. In the solitude he 
answered his Judge, he implored his Father, he con- 
versed with his Friend. With burning tears he interceded 
with the Divine Mercy in behalf of sinners, and lamented 
loudly over the sufferings of his Saviour, as though these 
were visible to his eyes. They observed how he was lifted 
above the earth, his hands outstretched in the form of a 
cross, and how a cloud, as proof of the marvelous illumina- 
tion of his soul, gleamed about him. Frequently, too, he 
spoke only inwardly, his lips remaining immovable, and 
while he withdrew within himself, he lifted his soul up- 
ward to God. He directed all his mind and will and love 
to God alone, so much so, that when he prayed, he did 
not seem to pray, but his very being became a living 
prayer: “Totus non tam orans, quam oratio factus.” 
Thus Thomas of Celano.”® 

This preference of Francis for solitary places of prayer 
and union with God communicated itself also to his 
brothers. Many of these lived in hermitages for a time, 
others constantly. The Saint saw himself obliged to draw 
up a particular “modus vivendi’ for such, which reads: 
“Let those brothers who wish to live religiously in hermit- 
ages, be three brothers or four at most. Let two of them 
be mothers, and have two sons, or at least one. Let the 
former lead the life of Martha, and the other two the 
life of Mary Magdalen. Let those who lead the life of 


pinkie Pal BANG CHR SE ch RA NEE ST 37787 


Mary have one cloister and each his own place, so that 
they may not live or sleep together. And let them always 
say Compline of the day toward sunset, and let them be 
careful to keep silence and to say their Hours and to rise 
for Matins, and let them seek first ‘the kingdom of God 
and His justice.’ And let them say Prime and Terce at 
the proper time, and, after the Hour of Terce, they may 
break silence and may speak and, when it is pleasing to 
them, they may go to their mothers and ask alms from 
them for the love of the Lord God, like little poor ones. 
And after that let them say Sext and None and Vespers 
at the appointed time. And they must not allow any 
person to enter into the cloister where they live, or let 
them eat there. Let these brothers who are mothers 
endeavor to keep apart from every person and, by the 
obedience of their custos, let them guard their sons from 
every person, so that no one may speak with them. And 
let these sons not speak with any person except with their 
mothers and with their custos, when it shall please him 
to visit them with the blessing of God. But the sons must 
sometimes in turn assume the office of mothers, for a 
time, according as it may seem to them to dispose. Let 
them strive to observe all the above diligently and 
earnestly.” *” The greatest joy overcame Francis when he 
heard of any brothers who faithfully led this life of 
uninterrupted recollection and constant prayer.?® 

As a rule, however, Francis and his sons could not for- 
sake the world very long because of the demands of the 
apostolate. They endeavored therefore to combine the 
active and the contemplative nature of their vocation by 
settling in the vicinity of cities and villages, yet outside 
of them. As early as 1224 Honorius III granted them the 
privilege “to celebrate Mass and the other divine mysteries 
on a portable altar in their places and oratories, because 
they wish to avoid the noise of the masses so contrary to 
their calling and to live by preference in hidden seclusion, 
in order the better to cultivate the spirit of prayer in 


% 


288 2 THELIDERSESORLSTERRSTNETS 


holy solitude.” 29 Ubertinus de Casale certainly grasped 
this Ideal of the Saint fully when he wrote: “Francis 
never neglected to withdraw from time to time into soli- 
tude, although he remained recollected and sunk in prayer 
day and night, as well as he could, even when among men. 
This was the manner of living and preaching which he 
always prescribed to his brothers. For this reason he 
desired that the houses of the brothers be in the neighbor- 
hood of human dwellings, that they might be ready to 
assist their fellow-men zealously. However, in order to 
guard against a too intimate intercourse with the world 
and to preserve the spirit of silent meditation and prayer, 
he wished to be a neighbor to men in such wise that he 
still remained a stranger; he desired to erect the houses 
near the people, yet so that they might be situated outside 
of the settlements, in places of quiet solitude.” 30 

Although he emphasized the apostolate so much, the 
chief care of the Saint was therefore the cultivation of 
the spirit of prayer. The grace of prayer, he insisted, 
must be desired above all things by a Religious; and since 
he was convinced that without it no one _can_progress in 
the service of God, he animated his.brothers. in every 
possible way to be zealous at prayer.?! He personally in- 
structed them how to pray; ?* he bound them strictly to 
avoid everything that could lessen the aptitude of the 
soul for prayer, even though it were only a vain talking 
outside the time of prayer; %* he incited them mostly by 
his example to work without ceasing for the grace of 
prayer. In this manner he reared those choice families 
of devout supplicants, about whom all the chronicles of 
early Franciscan history are so eloquent.*4 

2. Let us now turn our attention to the various practises 
of prayer observed by St. Francis. In the first place, we 
must put aside the thought that the piety of the Saint con- 
sisted in many and complicated devotions. His one de- 
votion was the childlike, humble and joyous adoring and 
glorifying of the Triune God. “Always adoring and con- 


DEE IPA ERSTE IE A, ON AC OS aR BO 


templating the Lord, the living and true God,” this was 
the sum total of his life of _prayer.?®_ One need but read 
the first rule of the Order to understand how thoroughly 
he practised devotion to the Most Holy Trinity and how 
zealously he recommended it to his brothers. 

In the seventeenth chapter of this rule, he desires that 
they should seek “above all things divine fear and divine 
wisdom, and the divine love of the Father, and the Son 
and the Holy Ghost.” Then he admonishes them as fol- 
lows: “Let us refer all good to the Lord God most high 
and supreme; let us acknowledge that all good things 
belong to Him, and let us give thanks for all to Him from 
whom all good proceeds. And may He, the most high and 
supreme, only true God, have, and may there be rendered 
to Him, and may He receive, all honors and reverences, all 
praises and benedictions, all thanks and all glory, to whom 
all good belongs, who alone is good. And when we see 
or hear evil said or God blasphemed, let us bless and thank 
and praise the Lord who is blessed forever. Amen.” °° 

In the twenty-first chapter there is an admonition which 
all the brothers, clerics and laics, should deliver to the 
people. This begins with the words of praise; “Fear and 
honor, praise and bless God, give thanks and adore the 
Lord God almighty in Trinity and Unity, Father and Son 
and Holy Ghost.” 37 

In the twenty-second chapter Francis admonishes the 
brothers still more forcibly: “Let us all, brothers, watch 
much, lest under pretext of some reward or labor or aid 
we lose or separate our heart or mind from the Lord. 
But I beseech all the brothers, both ministers and others, 
in the charity which God is, that, overcoming all obstacles 
and putting aside all care and solicitude, they strive in the 
best manner they are able, to serve, love and honor the 
Lord God with a clean heart and a pure mind, which He 
seeks above all. And let us always make in us a taber- 
nacle and dwelling-place for Him, who is the Lord God 
omnipotent, Father, Son and Holy Ghost.” *8 


390 THEIDEALSOFST. FRANCIS 


The entire rule concludes with the wonderful chapter 
entitled: “Prayer, Praise, and Thanksgiving” and which 
reads as follows: ‘Almighty, most holy, most high and 
supreme God, holy and just Father, Lord King of heaven 
and earth, for Thyself we give thanks to Thee because by 
Thy holy will, and by Thine only Son Thou hast created 
all things both spiritual and corporal in the Holy Ghost, 
and didst place us, made to Thy image and likeness, in 
paradise,?? whence we fell by our own fault. And we 
give Thee thanks because, as by Thy Son Thou didst 
create us, so by the true and holy love with which Thou 
hast loved us, Thou didst cause Him true God and true 
Man, to be born of the glorious and ever Virgin, most 
blessed and holy Mary, and didst will that He should 
redeem us captives by His cross and blood and death. 
And we give thanks to Thee because thy Son Himself 
is to come again in the glory of His majesty to put the 
wicked who have not done penance for their sins, and have 
not known Thee, in eternal fire, and to say to all that have 
known Thee and adored Thee and served Thee in penance: 
‘Come, ye blessed of My Father, possess the kingdom 
prepared for you from the beginning of the world.’ 4° 

“And since all we wretches and sinners are not worthy 
to name Thee, we humbly beseech Thee, that Our Lord 
Jesus Christ, Thy beloved Son, in whom Thou art well 
pleased,*! together with the Holy Ghost, the Paraclete, 
may give thanks to Thee as it is pleasing to Thee and 
Them, for all; He suffices Thee always for all through 
whom Thou hast done so much for us. Alleluia! 

“And we earnestly beg the glorious Mother, the most 
blessed Mary ever Virgin, blessed Michael, Gabriel, 
Raphael, and all the choirs of the blessed Spirits, Sera- 
phim, Cherubim and Thrones, Dominations, Principalities 
and Powers, Virtues, Angels and Archangels, blessed 
John the Baptist, John the Evangelist, Peter, Paul, the 
blessed Patriarchs and Prophets, Innocents, Apostles, 
Evangelists, Disciples, Martyrs, Confessors, Virgins, 


TEE EAD TE We OHS, eR PAN GAL TS. 203 


blessed Elias and Enoch, and all the saints who have been 
and are and shall be, for Thy love, that they may, as it is 
pleasing to Thee, give thanks for these things to the most 
high, true God, Our Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy 
Ghost, the Paraclete, forever and ever. Amen. Alleluia! 

“And all we, Brothers Minor, useless servants, humbly 
entreat and humbly beseech all those within the holy 
Catholic and Apostolic Church wishing to serve God, 
and all ecclesiastical Orders, priests, deacons, and sub- 
deacons, acolytes, exorcists, lectors, door-keepers and all 
clerics, all religious men and women, all boys and children, 
poor and needy, kings, and princes, laborers, husbandmen, 
servants and masters, all virgins, continent, and all married 
people, laics, men and women, ail infants, youths, young 
men and old, healthy and sick, all small and great, and all 
peoples, clans, tribes and tongues, all nations and all men 
in all the earth, who are and shall be, that we may per- 
severe in the true Faith and in doing penance, for other- 
wise no one can be saved. Let us all love with all our 
heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, with all our 
strength and fortitude, with all our understanding and 
with all our powers, with our whole might and with all 
our affection, with our innermost parts, our whole desires 
and wills, the Lord God, who has given and gives to us 
all, the whole body, the whole soul and our life; who has 
created and redeemed us, and by His mercy alone will 
save us; who has done and does all good to us, miserable 
and wretched, vile, unclean, ungrateful and evil. 

“Let us therefore desire nothing else, wish for nothing 
else, and let nothing please and delight us except our 
Creator and Redeemer and Saviour, the only true God, 
who is full of good, all good, entire good, the true and 
supreme Good, who alone is good, merciful and kind, 
gentle and sweet, who alone is holy, just, true and upright, 
who alone is benign, pure and clean, from whom and 
through whom and in whom is all mercy, all grace, all 
glory of all penitents and of all the just, and of all the 


392 THEIDEALSOFST. FRANCIS 


blessed rejoicing in heaven. Let nothing therefore hinder 
us, let nothing separate us, let nothing come between us. 
Let us all, everywhere, in every place, at every hour and 
at all times, daily and continually believe truly and humbly 
and let us hold in our hearts, and love, honor, adore, serve, 
praise and bless, glorify and exalt, magnify and give 
thanks to the most high and supreme, Eternal God, in 
Trinity and Unity, to the Father and Son and Holy Ghost, 
to the Creator of all, to the Saviour of all who believe and 
hope in Him and love Him, who, without beginning or 
end, is immutable, invisible, unerring, ineffable, incompre- 
hensible, unfathomable, blessed, praiseworthy, glorious, 
exalted, sublime, most high, sweet, amiable, lovable, and 
always wholly desirable above all for ever and ever. 
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy 
Ghost, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall 
be, world without end.” 4 

Truly a canticle to the Most Holy Trinity whose equal 
we can find nowhere in depth, piety and childlike simplic- 
ity! Francis, who himself was wholly “Prayer, Praise, 
and Thanksgiving,” calls upon heaven and earth, and espe- 
cially upon his brothers, to adore, praise, and love the 
Triune God.*? This is the devotion of the Man of Prayer 
of Assisi. 

This devotion, however, turns with preference to the 
Second Person of the Divinity, to the God-Man, Jesus 
Christ. It is self-evident that Christ always occupied a 
prominent place in Christian piety. However, since the 
era of the Crusades, since the time when the Christian 
world became inflamed with the desire of conquering the 
Holy Places hallowed by the feet of the Redeemer, it was 
as though the early days had returned when the faithful 
were simply known as “Invokers of the name of Jesus,” 
and “Adorers of the Lord Jesus.” ** The beginning was 
made by the great preacher of the Crusades, Bernard of 
Clairvaux; but what began with him and his times as a 
bud, “broke forth in the holy Beggar of Assisi into full 


i BaP TE Toye Ooo: ly BE BRAIN ET 52,393 


bloom, filling the world with its fragrance.” 4° Christ was 
the center not only of the piety of the Poverello, but of his 
entire life, as we have already shown in the opening 
chapters of this book. What has been said there, may be 
condensed in the pithy sentence of Thomas of Celano: 
“With his whole soul he thirsted after Christ alone; to 
Him he consecrated not only his heart, but also his whole 
body.” #6 His devotion to Christ found its expression 
in the “Office of the Passion,” #7 composed by him. This 
Office is made up of Psalms taken mostly from Holy 
Scripture, but partly also composed by him and written 
in the most touchingly childlike and devout spirit. Its 
object was to awaken in him and in others “veneration 
and remembrance and the praise of the Passion of Our 
Lord.” #8 Strictly speaking, however, it is not only an 
Office of the Passion, but of Christ Himself, for in it the 
chief mysteries of the life of the God-Man are praised, yet 
so that the Cross and Crucified are made the focus of 
devotion. Even the Psalm for the Vespers of Christmas, 
which gives expression to joy at the birth of the divine 


Child, concludes with the recollection of the Passion of 
Christi: 


Rejoice to God our helper; shout unto God, living 
and true, with the voice of triumph. 

For the Lord is high, terrible, a great King over 
all the earth. 

For the most holy Father of heaven, our King, 
before ages sent His beloved Son from on high, and 
He was born of the Blessed Virgin, Holy Mary. 

He shall cry to Me: Thou art My Father; and 
I will make Him My first-born, high above the kings 
of the earth. 

In the daytime the Lord hath commanded His 
mercy: and a canticle to Him in the night. 

This is the day which the Lord hath made: let us 
rejoice and be glad in it. 

For the beloved and most holy Child has been 


394. eH BEIDEN 1 SeO Tees eben aie 


given to us and born for us by the wayside, and laid 
in a manger because He had no room in the inn. 

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace 
to men of good will. 

Let the heavens rejoice and the earth be glad, and 
let the sea be moved and the fulness thereof. 

The fields shall rejoice and all that is in them. 

Sing to the Lord a new canticle, sing to the Lord, 
all the earth. 

For the Lord is great and exceedingly worthy to 
be praised. He is to be feared above all the gods. 

Bring to the Lord, O ye kindreds of the Gentiles, 
bring to the Lord glory and honor. 

Bring to the Lord glory unto His name. Bring 
your own bodies and bear His holy cross and follow 
His most holy precepts unto the end.*® 


This devotion of St. Francis to Christ spread to his 
entire Order, yea, even to the whole period which we 
call the Franciscan Era. It is a known fact that his sons 
guarded this devotion as a precious heirloom. This is 
evident from the coat of arms which the Order selected 
and which distinguishes it, and from the custody of the 
Cross which it has kept through thirteen hundred years 
up to the present day in the Holy Land, and from the 
devotion to the Stations of the Cross, which it has popu- 
larized and spread throughout the world. The Fran- 
ciscan nuns, from the day of St. Clare to the present 
time, propagated the devotion to Christ and the Cross 
with the same zeal as the First Order. Thomas of Celano 
tells us that Clare daily suffered a mystical death with 
the Crucified Saviour; that she recited the Office of the 
Passion, composed by Francis, with the same fervor as 
he himself; that she constantly prayed to the Wounds 
of the Saviour; in a word, that she bore the most tender 
and ardent devotion to the Crucified and never wearied 
of recommending it to her daughters.°® Her letters to 
the Blessed Agnes of Prague reveal a most touching love 
for the divine Redeemer.® When she was on her death- 


TEHE;PERTVG Ora oe bab Reo Ne Gt 51095 


bed, the gospel of the Passion and the last words of 
Christ had to be read to her for the last time; then she 
had Brother Juniper summoned to her side and begged 
him with a joyous smile to say something new to the 
praise of God, for she knew that this “excellent troubadour 
of God understood how to say wonderful things about 
the Lord.” 

Simultaneously the Franciscan mystics took up the pen 
to carry the devotion to the divine Redeemer into the 
widest circles. As early as the middle of the thirteenth 
century, Brother David of Augsburg composed, besides 
other Latin and German works, meditations and prayers 
on “the dearly beloved Lord Jesus Christ,” so tender in 
tone and depth, so charming in their appeal, that their 
equal can scarcely be found.?® It seems as if he sang a 
refrain to these when he adds the verses: 


“O Jesus, Thou art my sweet delight, 

Art to my spirit sun and light, 

Which in my inner shines: 

When with longing for Thy love it pines, 
What heavenly blissfulness it wins, 

When for Thy honey-sweet Divinity it burns !” 54 


A still more powerful impetus to the devotion to Christ 
was given by St. Bonaventure, the Prince of Mystics. In 
almost countless passages of his works he commends the 
devotion to the Crucified as the shortest and surest way 
that leads beyond all degrees of prayer directly to mystic 
union with God. The soul, desirous of penetrating into 
the mysteries of the spiritual life, must purify itself in 
the blood of the Crucified, must allow itself to be carried 
on by a burning love to the Crucified, must adore, con- 
template and glorify the Crucified without ceasing.’? 

The influence of this Franciscan devotion to Christ on 
the later Middle Ages is reflected in the almost divine 
book of Thomas a Kempis (1379-1471). The attempt to 
trace the Following of Christ to St. Bonaventure was 


36 THEIDEALSOFST.FRANCIS 


indeed abortive. However, it is undeniable that Thomas 
a Kempis was conversant with, and utilized, the works 
of the Seraphic Doctor,?® and that everywhere he reveals 
the particular piety proceeding from St. Francis.?” Be- 
fore the Franciscan Era no one would have dared to write 
a book with the title, “The Following of Christ.” Every 
chapter of the Imitation is Franciscan in thought and 
prayer; the intimate union of the soul with the Cross and 
the Tabernacle is especially Franciscan; Franciscan, above 
all, the sovereign principle which controls all others: “Let 
it be our chief study to meditate on the life of Jesus 
Christ... . When thou hast Christ, thou art rich, and He 
is sufficient for thee.” 58 The self-same thought was the 
lodestar of St. Francis: “I know Christ, the poor Cruci- 
fied. More I need not.” 5° 

With Christ and because of Christ, he was devoted to 
the Blessed Virgin Mary. From earliest youth he was 
filled with “an ardent devotion to the Mother all-loving” 
and “Mistress of the world.” 6 He was attached to her 
with such ineffable love because she “gave us the Lord 
of majesty as our Brother.” © He could rejoice like a 
child over every mark of love and esteem shown her. 
“The Blessed Virgin Mary,” he remarked, “is justly hon- 
ored so greatly, because she bore the Lord in her most 
holy womb.” 63 

His love for Mary, however, was based not only on her 
divine Motherhood, but also on this, that Mary shared 
the poverty of her divine Son, and thus had become the 
model for the Friars Minor. 

Again and again he returned to this idea. He praised 
poverty as “the queen of virtues, because it sparkled with 
such brightness in the King of kings and in His queenly 
Mother.” ®* Alms-begging was esteemed so highly by 
him “because Our Lord Jesus Christ was poor and a 
stranger and lived on alms, He and the Blessed Virgin.” © 
Every beggar that he met he considered “a reflection of 
the Lord and of His poor Mother.” 6 It was only with 


TEBEFPI ED ACT FTIR RAN IE al 5307 


many tears that he could recall the great privations to 
which the Blessed Virgin and her Divine Child were ex- 
posed.®* Once at dinner a Friar mentioned how poor 
the Blessed Virgin had been on Christmas Day when she 
gave birth to the Saviour. This was enough to affect 
Francis most strongly. He rose instantly from the table, 
seated himself on the bare floor, and thus finished his 
frugal meal amid bitter tears.°8 The example of Christ 
and of His blessed Mother alone was sufficient to urge 
him and his Brothers and Sisters to a life of poverty. 
For this reason he once wrote to Clare and her Sisters 
at San Damiano: “I, your least brother, Francis, will 
follow the life and poverty of Our Lord Jesus Christ 
and of His blessed Mother and persevere therein till the 
end. And I beg and beseech you all to persevere always 
in this most holy manner of life and poverty.” 69 

For this reason also he consecrated himself and his 
Order to Mary, the Mother of God, and Mother of the 
Poor. The small sanctuary of Mary of the Angels, or 
Portiuncula, was, and remained, the cradle and home of 
his Order. In this chapel “he poured forth,’ as St. 
Bonaventure says, “constant prayers to her who had con- 
ceived the Word full of grace and truth, that she might 
vouchsafe to be his advocate. And now, by the merits 
of the Mother of Mercy, he conceived and brought forth 
the spirit of evangelical truth.’ To this chapel he 
always led the brothers who joined the brotherhood, “that 
the Order of Friars Minor, which had been born there 
by the merits of the Mother of God, might there also by 
her aid receive its increase.” “1 This chapel of the Virgin 
Mother of God “became the source and center of the new 
Order, the soul of his foundation. Here sprang up the 
fountain, which flowed in many thousand glittering rills 
of silver, humble and unassuming, through the divine 
garden of the Church, and changed so much sterile and 
desert land into green and blossoming fields. Hither 


3988 THEIDEALSOFST.FRANCIS 


Francis always returned after his distant journeys into the 
Orient and Occident; after he had strengthened and con- 
soled his brothers on his journeys by his presence, founded 
monasteries, clothed princes and lords, poor and lowly, 
men and women with the garb of poverty, consoled the 
sorrowful, reconciled enemies, ‘distributed spiritual and 
temporal alms—hither he felt always drawn, to the home- 
like little church, the cradle of the Order.” “* He loved 
this little sanctuary more than any other place on earth, 
and on his death-bed commended it to the care of his 
brothers.”3 In its shadow he also wished to die,’* after 
he had chosen the Blessed Virgin as Patroness and Advo- 
cate of his Order and of his brothers for all times.” 

From this we may conclude how often and how 
zealously he prayed to Mary. He was not satisfied with 
the prayers which are found in the liturgy, nor with the 
Office of the Blessed Virgin which he added to these.’® 
Thomas of Celano assures us: “He dedicated to the 
Mother of Jesus special hymns of praise, addressed special 
prayers to her, and breathed so many and such intimate 
aspirations of love to her, that no tongue is capable of 
describing it.” “ After Christ, he placed all his confidence 
in her; 7® to her confessed all his faults, and through her 
he daily hoped to obtain pardon of his imagined sins.”? 
He spent entire nights in the praise of God and of the 
glorious Virgin.8® Every Hour of his Office of the 
Passion began and ended with. the antiphon: “Holy 
Virgin Mary, there is none like unto thee born in the 
world among women, daughter and handmaid of the most 
high King, the heavenly Father! Mother of our most 
holy Lord Jesus Christ, Spouse of the Holy Ghost, pray 
for us with St. Michael Archangel, and all the virtues of 
heaven, and all the saints, to thy most holy Son, our Lord 
and Master.” §! Still more charming is the “Salutation 
of the Blessed Virgin,” composed and often recited by 
him: 


IEIESET BE DNVGORBSELS FORA AL NC. DTS 599 


Ave Domina sancta, re- 
gina sanctissima, Dei geni- 
trix Maria! 

Que es Virgo perpetua, 
electa a sanctissimo Patre 
de calo! 

Quam consecravit cum 
sanctissimo dilecto Filio et 
Spiritu Paracleto! 


In qua fuit et est omnis 
plenitudo gratiz et omne 
bonum. 

Ave palatium eius! 

Ave tabernaculum eius! 

Ave domus eius! 

Ave vestimentum eius! 

Ave ancilla eius! 

Ave Mater eius! 

Et vos omnes sanct& 
virtutes, quz per gratiam et 
illuminationem Sancti Spi- 
ritus infundimini in corda 
fidelium, ut de infidelibus 
fideles Deo faciatis !” 82 


Hail, holy Lady, most 
holy Queen, Mother of 
God, Mary! 

Who art ever Virgin, 
chosen from heaven by the 
mostly holy Father! 

Whom He has conse- 
crated with the most be- 
loved Son and the Spirit, 
the Paraclete! 

In whom was and is all 
the fulness of grace and all 
good. 

Hail thou His palace! 

Hail thou His tabernacle! 

Hail thou His house! 

Hail thou His garment! 

Hail thou His handmaid! 

Hail thou His Mother! 

Hail, all ye virtues which 
by the grace and illumina- 
tion of the Holy Ghost 
thou infusest in the hearts 
of the faithful, that from 
infidels ye may make them 
faithful to God! 


Besides his devotion to the Queen of heaven, he had 
also a tender veneration toward the angels and samts, In 


genuinely knightly fashion he reckoned the angels as our 
champions in the battle against the powers of darkness. 
Everywhere, he was wont to say, we are surrounded by 
these heavenly Paladins; closest, however, to us are our 
Guardian Angels.®® He could not bear that they should 
detect in him anything that might sadden their eye, or 
that one should dare to do anything in their presence that 
he feared to do before men. In the knowledge that the 
angels unceasingly sang hymns of praise before the 
Most Holy Sacrament, he desired that whenever possible 


400: © EHEFLDEALSORSTIERANGLS 


the brothers should come to the choir and there chant 
‘their Office in union with the heavenly spirits.°* 

In a special manner Francis loved the archangel Michael. 
As the knightly conqueror of the dragon he was the 
patron of warriors.®° Under his standard they marched 
to the conflict, and far and wide echoed the battle-cry: 


O invincible, valiant hero, Prince Michael, 
O guard us through life, 

O help us in strife, 

Prince Michael, Prince Michael ! °° 


- The spiritual Knight of Assisi placed himself under the 
leadership of this Prince of heaven, all the more since 
the latter burns with zeal for souls, and has been assigned 
the office of leading them to heaven.” Francis fasted 
forty days in his honor, beginning with the feast of the 
Assumption, and during this time applied himself to most 
zealous prayer.®® He did not hold the brothers to this 
fast, but remarked: “Let each offer to God a special 
praise or other tribute in honor of so exalted a Prince.” ®° 

Of the saints he honored with deepest devotion the 
Princes of the Apostles, Peter and Paul, because they 
excelled in glowing love for Christ, and were to him 
splendid examples in the exercise of the apostolate. He 
prepared himself yearly for their feast by a fast of forty 
days. The other saints were also dear to his heart. Their 
memory constantly spurred him on to ever increasing love 
of God.®® Whatever pertained to their cult was especially 
dear to him, in particular their relics.?! Their imitation 
was, however, of prime importance to him. He was wont 
to remind the brothers not only to praise the servants of 
God, but like them to be loyal to God in sorrow, persecu- 
tion and contempt, in sickness and temptation and similar 
trials.°? On such occasions he would declare in his 
romantic way: “Emperor Charles, Roland and Olivier, and 
all brave knights and warriors, fought in battle against 
the infidels in heat and hunger, won great victories and 


IEERFEABTEITNAOEETSTE IE REN OL 


died as holy martyrs for their faith in Jesus Christ. Now, 
however, there are many carpet knights, who desire to be 
honored and praised only because they know how to speak 
of such exploits and of such heroism. Thus, there are 
many, even among us, who place their entire glory in 
speaking and preaching about the great deeds of the 
Saints?" 4 

Francis preferred the Divine Office to all private devo- 
tions. As was to be expected, the liturgical functions 
could not be conducted in the poor and small churches 
of the Friars with that solemnity and splendor which 
accompanied them in the great abbeys and cathedrals. But 
the zeal with which the Friars practised liturgical prayer 
could not be surpassed by monks or canons. In the rule 
of 1221 the Saint prescribes: “Let all the brothers, 
whether clerics or laics, say the Divine Office, the praises 
and prayers which they ought to say. The clerics shall 
say the Office, and say it for the living and the dead, 
according to the custom of clerics.” ®* Even in his Testa- 
ment Francis bears witness that at first he and his fol- 
lowers prayed the Office as did the other clerics.”® In 
the final rule he exchanged, with the exception of the 
Psalm version, the form of Office then commonly in use, 
for the one used by the Roman Church, that is, in the 
Papal chapel. He now ordains: “The brothers shall recite 
the Divine Office according to the order of the Holy 
Roman Church, with the exception of the Psalter.’ 9° 
The faithful retention and the conscientious recitation of 
this Office was always a matter dear to his heart. When 
he was nearing his end, and was no longer able to read 
because of his poor health and almost total blindness, he 
had a cleric read the Office to him daily. He inflicted 
the severest penalties on those brothers who were negli- 
gent in this matter.?? 

As we have seen elsewhere,?3® the Office was to be 
recited if possible in common, in spiritual union with the 
angels. It was not only recited, but, whenever possible, 


402 ©. DT EVE RD ATISIOMSEER ERZZEN PS 


sung after the manner of the Roman choir.?” Francis 
implores the brothers to practise this chant with all possi- 
ble dignity and devotion: “The clerics should recite the 
Divine Office with devotion before God, so that they pay 
not so much attention to the melody of the voice as to 
the harmony of their spirits, so that the voice is united 
with the spirit, the spirit, however, with God, so that 
they may please God through purity of conscience and 
not flatter the ears of men by the quality of their 
voices.” 100 He also admonished the brothers to recite 
the Hours with the same reverence and devotion when- 
ever they could not be present in the choir. 

In this as in all other things Francis gave the most 
splendid example. He chanted the Psalms with such 
interior recollection as if he beheld God present.°! Al- 
though he suffered from illness of his eyes, his stomach, 
his kidneys and his liver, he would not lean on anything 
while reciting the Office, but prayed in an upright position, 
with his hood thrown back, never allowing his eyes to 
wander, or interrupting it in any way. If he happened 
to be on a journey, he would make a stop; if in the saddle, 
he would dismount. Even when the rain poured down 
upon him he would not depart from this custom. “If 
the body,” he said, “which is the prey of worms, is 
allowed to enjoy its food in quiet, with how much tran- 
quillity and peace must the soul take its food, which is 
God Himself! He considered it a great fault if his 
soul occupied itself a single instant with vain fancies 
during prayer, and he hastened to atone for the sin by 
immediate confession. In this manner he succeeded in 
remaining recollected to such an extent that he was 
scarcely ever pestered by the “gnats of distraction.” Once 
during Lent he had made a small earthen vessel, in order 
not to waste a single moment of time. While he was 
reciting Terce, his work fastened itself upon his mind 
and distracted him for an instant. This caused him such 
sorrow that after the completion of Terce he said to his 


SELES Peal teat 914 Oe S ol, CEC RAAING GS 403 


brothers: ‘Fie upon this idle work which has such a hold 
on me that it draws my spirit away! I will sacrifice it 
to God, whose sacrifice it has hindered.’ With these 
words he seized the vessel and flung it into the fire.1%2 

In the first years of the Order the brothers did not yet 
understand how to recite the Office. For this reason 
Francis ordained that they should replace it with the Our 
Father.1°8 Thus at every canonical Hour, and in fact at 
every interval at their disposal, they prayed and sang the 
Lord’s Prayer with the greatest zeal.!%* 

As soon, however, as the number of clerics increased, 
he prescribed, as we have seen, the ecclesiastical Office 
for them, while he obliged the lay brothers to recite a 
certain number of Our Fathers. This ordinance of 
1221 was embodied almost without change in the rule of 
1223: “Let the clerics perform the Divine Office accord- 
ing to the order of the holy Roman Church, with the 
exception of the Psalter; wherefore they may have 
Breviaries. But let the laics say twenty-four Pater 
Nosters for Matins, five for Lauds; for Prime, Terce, 
Sext and Nones—for each of these Hours, seven; for 
Vespers, however, twelve; for Compline seven; and let 
them pray for the dead.” 106 

A similar lay Breviary was already in use among the 
Knights Templar,!0” and among the lay brothers of the 
Cistercians.1°° This may not have been unknown to 
Francis. Yet evidently he was not induced by this, but 
by his love for the Gospel, to recommend heartily the 
devotion to the Lord’s Prayer to his sons, lay as well 
as cleric. In the beginning 1° and later on 1° he con- 
stantly urged them to say the Our Father, repeating the 
words of the Saviour: “When ye wish to pray, say: Our 
Father, who art in heaven.” 111 In order to lead has 
brothers, lay and cleric, to a deep understanding of the 
Our Father, he composed a striking paraphrase on it and 
recited it before every Hour of the Breviary, and before 
the Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary.!!? We dare not 


44 THEIDEALS OF ST. FRANCIS 


withhold this pearl of prayer from our readers in its 
own precious setting: 


Our Father, most holy, our Creator, Redeemer, and 
Comforter. 

Who art in heaven, in the angels and in the saints, 
illuminating them unto knowledge, for Thou, O Lord, 
art light; inflaming them unto love, for Thou, O 
Lord, art love; dwelling in them and filling them 
with blessedness, for Thou, O Lord, art the highest 
Good, the eternal Good, from whom is all good and 
without whom is no good. 

Hallowed be Thy name: may Thy knowledge shine 
in us that we may know the breadth of Thy benefits, 
the length of Thy promises, the height of Thy 
majesty, and the depth of Thy judgments. 

Thy kingdom come, that Thou mayest reign in us 
by grace and mayest make us come to Thy kingdom, 
where there is the clear vision of Thee, the perfect 
love of Thee, the blessed company of Thee, the 
eternal enjoyment of Thee. 

Thy will be done on earth as it 1s in heaven: that 
we may love Thee with the whole heart by thinking 
of Thee; with the whole soul by always desiring 
Thee, with the whole mind by directing our inten- 
tions to Thee and seeking Thy honor in all things 
with all our strength, by spending all powers of body 
and soul in the service of Thy love and not in any- 
thing else; and that we may love our neighbors even 
as ourselves, drawing to the best of our power all to 
Thy love; rejoicing in the good of others as in our 
own, and compassionating with them in troubles and 
giving offense to no one. 

Gsve us this day, through memory and understand- 
ing and reverence for the love which He had for us 
and for those things which He said, did and suffered 
for us—our daily bread, Thy beloved Son, Our Lord 
Jesus Christ. 

And forgive us our trespasses, by Thy ineffable 
mercy in virtue of the passion of Thy beloved Son, 
Our Lord Jesus Christ, and through the merits and 


CO EIBAPH TR OF? STEHE RIN.N GEN 405 


intercession of the most blessed Virgin Mary and of 
all Thy elect. 

As we forgive those who trespass against us, and 
what we do not fully forgive, do Thou, O Lord, 
make us fully forgive, that for Thy sake we may 
truly love our enemies and devoutly intercede for 
them with Thee, that we may render no evil for evil, 
but in Thee may strive to do good to all. 

And lead us not into temptation, hidden or visible, 
sudden or continuous. 


But delwer us from evil, past, present, and to come. 
Amen.!!? 


3. The practises of piety as thus far recounted, by no 
means exhaust the Saint’s life of prayer; they merely 
exhibit various phases of it. Brother David of Augsburg 
writes: “Prayer is threefold. First, when we say 
prayers composed by the Holy Ghost through the mouths 
of others, as the Psalms, hymns, the Our Father and 
similar prayers. Second, when we converse intimately 
with God and the saints from out of our hearts, accord- 
ing as the Holy Ghost moves us, reveal what distresses 
us, and beg for what we desire, and render thanks for 
what we have received—for ourselves and for others. 
The third is in the heart, does not make use of words, 
consists in pure desire, is hidden in the longings of the 
heart, and cannot be uttered in words by the tongue. 
The first is good, the second better, the third best.” 114 
From what has been said above, it is evident that Francis 
was a master of all three kinds of prayer. It now remains 
but to examine the spirit that animated him at prayer. 

Briefly expressed, it is the spirit of contemplation. 
The Saint himself designated it as his Ideal. “Always to 
adore and contemplate the Lord, the living and true 
God.” 115 His immediate disciples esteemed in him above 
all else “the contemplation and wisdom of the eternal 
truths.” 116 And Bonaventure declares: “Filled with the 
Spirit of God, Blessed Francis was inflamed with the 


406 + SLBA DB AS Ore or Pris kh ENGE 


desire to cling to God through the enjoyment of uninter- 
rupted contemplation.” 117 

The term contemplation in this connection connotes not 
only piety in general, but affectwe piety, the prayer of 
the heart. It is true, the mind had its share in Francis’ 
life of prayer, as it has necessarily in every prayer. But 
in him the source and the focus of prayer was never- 
theless his heart, his emotions, his God-tending will, his 
absorption in and union with God. The prayers com- 
posed by him are proof of this. He occupies himself 
prayerfully with the deepest speculative mysteries of the 
Holy Trinity; but despite the deepest speculation, his 
prayer unwittingly becomes an unbroken chain of inner 
aspirations.14% He meditates on the mysteries of the 
human-divine life and of the passion of Jesus Christ,1® 
yet so that his prayer to Christ, as Thomas of Celano 
remarks, always ended with the desire to be dissolved and 
to be with Christ.!? He bore an inexpressibly tender 
devotion to Mary, and always and everywhere it becomes 
a childlike, loving and intimate lisping to the Mother in 
heaven.!?! He prays the Divine Office, and every Hour 
becomes to him a living, throbbing experience, and every 
Psalm a touching cry to God.'** He prays and para- 
phrases the Lord’s Prayer, and petition after petition 
becomes on his lips like a sunlit prism, in which the rays 
of his enthusiastic love of God are refracted.123 What, 
then, must have been those hours, yea, days and nights 
of almost ceaseless intimate prayer, during which his soul 
remained irrevocably wrapt in the Most High! 12% 

As prayer with him was more the outpouring of his 
heart than the cold product of his mind, it did not spring 
from labored reasoning, but gushed forth spontaneously 
from his absorption in God. In this lies the essential 
mark of higher mystic contemplation. Everyone engaged 
in prayer, both beginners and the advanced, should regard 
discursive mental activity (meditatio) only as a means 
to the end of arousing the affections and of entering into 


THEPIETYOFST.FRANCIS qo 


close union with God; it is, however, a prerogative of 
the advanced and perfect only, or the result of an extraor- 
dinary grace, to attain to this union without the use of 
this medium. Francis possessed this mystic quality of 
the soul in a high degree. A single glance at a church 
or a cross,1?® a single word casually dropped about the 
Saviour or the Mother of God,!% transported him into 
the state of deepest contemplation. Indeed, a purely acci- 
dental reference to a divine truth sufficed to place this 
truth before his soul in its full light and life, to penetrate 
and enthuse his heart, to inflame his will, to engulf the 
entire man in holy wonderment, sweetness and _ bliss. 
Thus, without effort he could hold converse with God 
unceasingly, whether eating or drinking, whether moving 
about or standing, whether at home or on a journey.!?7 

Often, however, neither an exterior cause nor interior 
meditation was needed, but the presence of God would 
overpower him unconsciously or rather miraculously with 
such force that he became lost in Him, either retaining 
the normal control of his senses or transported into 
ecstasy.1*8 A pilgrim on earth in the flesh, his soul 
soared among the angels in heaven, in such manner that 
only a thin wall seemed to separate him from the vision 
of God.!?? It appeared as if he were already at home 
in the eternal mansions,!®° and as if the harmonies of 
eternity were echoing in his prayerful soul. 

The dominant notes to which his spirit of prayer was 
attuned, were love and praise. 

That the piety of Francis was born of his love of God, 
need but be intimated here. We have already shown in 
the first chapters of our book,!*! that he was a knight of 
the love of God, and that his entire life was one long 
prayer of love. All that has been said of his piety may be 
here recapitulated in the one word—love: love is the secret 
of the Saint’s life of prayer; love is the strain that ever 
quivers through all his practises of prayer; and if we are 
to designate his spirit of prayer as affective and direct 


108 2. TH EILDSER TD St Om STE Rea Nes iS 


contemplation, it is again thereby expressed that the 
dominant note of his piety is above all things a burning 
and overwhelming love of God. This is universally 
pointed out as the characteristic trait of the Saint. “In- 
toxicated with divine love,” the Three Companions de- 
clare.13? “Glowing with divine love,” he is described by 
Thomas of Celano.133 “If he but heard the word of the 
love of God mentioned, he immediately became moved, 
warmed, inflamed, as though one had struck the hidden 
chords of his heart and set them in vibration.” 184 “Who 
can describe the fervor of the love with which Francis, 
the friend of the Bridegroom, burned!” exclaims St. 
Bonaventure. “Like a glowing coal he appeared to be 
wholly consumed by the flame of divine love.” 18° “He 
was wholly seraphic in the fire of his love,” sings the Poet 
of the “Divine Comedy.” 18° The whole world therefore 
accords him the title “the Seraphic Francis.” 

Because of his love of God, his life and his prayer were 
a continuous praise of God. 

As the profane jongleurs proclaimed the glory of their 
heroes, so this spiritual troubadour of Assisi wished to 
announce God’s glory and God’s greatness to all the world. 
Scarcely had he heard the first call to the knighthood of 
Christ, than he appeared as a minstrel of Christ and began 
to sing through field and forest the praise of his Creator 
in the tongue of the Provengal troubadours.!?” Shortly 
afterward he felt called upon to promote the honor of his 
Lord by restoring poor and ruined churches. For this 
purpose he traversed the streets of his native town, sing- 
ing and praising God as though carried out of his senses. 
When he had finished his song, he would beg from door 
to door, and begin anew the praises of the Lord.138 After‘ 
the first brothers had joined his company, he sent them out 
to preach, two by two. He himself, together with Brother 
Giles, bent his steps toward the Marches, singing in a loud 
and clear voice the praise of God and the goodness of the 
Most High.8® Thus he continued during his whole life. 


I Fp Pals ye © iy STE. Shes AON TCT S400 


Often words failed him to express his love and enthusiasm 
for God. At such times he imitated some musical instru- 
ment, singing and playing to the glory of God, as the 
knightly minstrels were wont to do.!* 

Whenever he was wrapt in ecstasy, as it happened at 
times, the brothers were instructed to praise God in the 
meantime and to pray to the Lord for him.!*! Without 
end he urged them to praise the Most High. Their whole 
life was to be such that it served as a hymn of praise and 
moved others to glorify God.!?? Once he stopped amid a 
downpour of rain in an open field and wrote to the 
brothers, urging them to sing joyously to the Holy 
Trinity: “Let us bless the Father and the Son and the 
Holy Ghost.” 4% Another time he sent them the written 
message: “You shall so announce and preach His praise 
to all people that at every hour and when the bells are 
rung, praise and thanks shall always be given to the 
almighty God by all the people through the whole 
earth.” 144 And another time he addressed a “Letter to 
All the Faithful” with the request: “Let us love God and 
adore Him and offer Him praises by day and by night. 
. . . O how glorious and holy and great to have a Father 
in heaven! O how holy, fair and lovable to have a Spouse 
in heaven! O how holy and how beloved, well pleasing 
and humble, peaceful and sweet and desirable above all to 
have such a Brother who has laid down His life for His 
sheep. . . . And since He has suffered so many things for 
us and has done and will do so much for us, let every 
creature which is in heaven and on earth and in the sea 
and in the abysses, render praise to God and glory and 
honor and benediction; for He is our strength and power 
who alone is good, alone most high, alone almighty and 
admirable, glorious and alone holy, praiseworthy and 
blessed without end forever and ever. Amen,” +4 

Thus he molded his life and that of his brothers into 
one great prayer of praise. This applies all the more 
to his special devotions. They are, as has been explained, 


410 STH ENT DE AT SEO RESTE oe aN es 


focused as much on the praise as on the love of God.!*® 
Yet, not content with this, he wished to frame, as it were, 
all religious exercises with specially composed prayers, 
which in the full sense of the word are canticles of praise 
(Laudes Dei), and were thus called by him. 

Before every Hour of the three Offices said by him 
daily ; that is, the canonical Office, the Office of the Blessed 
Virgin, and the Office of the Passion, he recited the 
Laudes Dei,!#T which are as follows: 


Holy, holy, holy Lord, God almighty, who is and 
who was and who is to come. Let us praise and exalt 
Him above all forever! 

Worthy art Thou, O Lord, our God, to receive 
praise, glory and honor and benediction. Let us 
praise and exalt Him above all forever! 

The Lamb that was slain is worthy to receive 
power and divinity and wisdom and strength and 
honor and benediction. Let us praise and exalt Him 
above all forever! 

Let us bless the Father and the Son and the Holy 
Ghost. Let us praise and exalt Him above all 
forever! 

All ye works of the Lord, bless ye the Lord. Let 
us praise and exalt Him above all forever! 

Give praise to God, all ye His servants and you 
that fear Him, little and great. Let us praise and 
exalt Him above all forever! 

Let the heavens and the earth praise Him, the 
Glorious, and every creature which is in heaven and 
on the earth and under the earth, and in the seas 
and all that arein them. Let us praise and exalt Him 
above all forever! 

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the 
Holy Ghost. Let us praise and exalt Him above all 
forever ! 

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall 
be, world without end. Amen. Let us praise and 
exalt Him above all forever ! 148 


- 


Bi Ep Pals ol ye, GEST, Be RI AAI CR oe AT 


To this he added the oration: ‘Almighty, most holy, 
most high and supreme God, highest good, all good, wholly 
good, who alone art good. To Thee we render all praise, 
all glory, all thanks, all honor, all blessing, and we shall 
always refer all good to Thee. Amen.” 149 At the con- 
clusion of the Office he added: “Let us praise the Lord, 
the living and true God. Let us always render to Him 
praise and glory and honor and benediction and all good! 
Amen, Amen. -Bıat! Fiat Lal? 

Two years before his death, when he had just been 
blessed with the Stigmata of the Crucified, he wrote, out 
of the endless gratitude of his heart, a “Praise of God,” 
“a Te Deum, than which a more glowing was never 
SUN 


Tu es sanctus Dominus 
Deus solus, qui facis mira- 
bilia. 

Tu es fortis. Tu es mag- 
nus. Tues altissimus. 


Thou art holy, Lord God, 
who alone workest wonders. 


Thou art strong. Thou 
art great. Thou art most 
high. 


Tu es Rex omnipotens, 
tu Pater sancte, Rex cceli et 
tert: 

Tu es trinus et unus 
Dominus Deus, omne 
bonum. 

Tu es bonum omne 
bonum, summum bonum, 
Dominus Deus, vivus et 
verus. 

Tu es 

Tu es 

Tu es 

Tu es 

Tu es 

Tu es 

Tu es 


caritas amor. 
sapientia. 
humilitas. 
patientia. 
securitas. 

quietas. 

gaudium et leetitia. 


Thou art the almighty 
King, Thou, holy Father, . 
King of heaven and earth. 

Thou art the Lord God, 
Triune and One, all good. 


Thou art good, all good, 
highest good, Lord God, 
living and true. 


Thou 
Thou 
Thou 
Thou 
Thou 
Thou 
Thou 
ness. 


art charity, love. 
art wisdom. 

art humility. 

art patience. 

art security. 

art quietude. 

art joy and glad- 


412 


Tu es iustitia et tempe- 
rantia. 

Tu es omnia divitia ad 
sufficientiam. 

Tu es pulchritudo. 

Tu es mansuetudo. 

Tu es protector. 

Tu es custos et defensor. 


Tu es fortitudo. 

Tu es refrigerium. 

Tu es spes nostra. 

Tu es fides nostra. 

es magna dulcedo 
nostra. 

Tu es vita eterna nostra, 
magnus et admirabilis 
Dominus Deus omnipotens, 
misericors Salvator. 


TELE DEATSIORTSTEERANGENS 


Thou art justice and 
temperance. 

Thou art all riches to 
sufficiency. 

Thou art beauty. 

Thou art meekness. 

Thou art protector. 

Thou art guardian and 
defender. 

Thou art strength. 

Thou art refreshment. 

Thou art our hope. 

Thou art our faith. 

Thou art our great sweet- 
ness. 

Thou art our eternal life, 
great and admirable Lord 
God almighty, merciful 
Saviourapees 


Francis never ceased to sing these canticles of praise 
to God even when his bodily infirmities had become almost 
unbearable. On the contrary, his spirit became more 
resigned to God, more united to God, more joyous in God. 
In his last days he continuously sang the praises of God 
and taught his disciples to praise and bless Christ the 
Lord. All other creatures he also called upon tc praise 
God, and urged them to love God; and he requested to 
have the Canticle of the Sun, which he had composed in 
the midst of his suffering,* sung again and again, that 
sublime song of praise which he himself entitled “The 
New Canticle of Praise of the Creatures of the Lord.” 15% 


GEIABTERZXTIX 


FRANCIS AND NATURE 


HAT Francis possessed a love of nature of rare 

tenderness and vividness, is beyond the need of 

proof. The oft-repeated assertion that the early 
Middle Ages had no eye for the beauties of nature, is a 
gross exaggeration,! and it is utterly false to ascribe the 
awakening of the sense of the natural to the Renaissance.? 
The first impetus was already given by the Poverello 
of Assisi.” Long before Dante, Boccaccio and Petrarch 
penned their immortal verses, Francis had walked through 
nature, carried away with ecstatic joy and with wonder- 
ment at the charming scene of hill and dale, at the beauty 
of flower and animal, at the majesty of the inanimate ele- 
ments. In him were united all the qualities of the thought- 
ful observer and sensitive friend of nature: the innocent 
eye of a child, the lively fancy and the heightened sensi- 
bility of a poet,* and the joyful, loving, godly heart of a 
saint. Important as the two first qualities are, neverthe- 
less the third is the very root of his joy in the things of 
nature and of his love of nature. His entire relation to 
nature is essentially religious. It begins and ends with 
nature’s God. It may be condensed in the two words: 
from Creator to creature, and from creature to Creator. 

I. From Creator to creature. Not the manifold attrac- 
tion and beauties of nature itself, nor yet the personal 
temperament of the Saint, but his all-embracing love of 
God must be assigned as the source of his love of nature. 
The Speculum perfectionis expresses this in the words: 
“Entirely absorbed in the love of God, the Blessed Francis 


413 


4114. 4 SEHLEILD AMAS TO Aigo Pr Rena 


saw the goodness of God reflected in every creature in a 
perfect manner, and because of this he was devoted to 
created things with a special and heartfelt love.” ° 

Thoroughly imbued himself with the consciousness of 
being a child of God, he considered all his fellow-creatures 
as his kin, as members of the one, great family of God. 
In all of them he marveled at the wisdom, power and 
goodness of the Creator. -A mere glance at the sun or 
the moon and stars, at creatures great or small, filled him 
with inexpressible joy.’ | 

And because all came from God, all entered into the 
closest kinship with him. To him all were Brothers and 
Sisters. No matter how small, lowly and insignificant 
they were, his eye penetrated into the deepest meaning of 
all things earthly, into the very essence of every creature, 
reaching the last and Supreme Cause of all things; and in 
consequence there rose from his heart naturally and 
spontaneously the name: “Brother, Sister in God, the 
Creator and Father of all things.’* Nor was this name 
an empty sound; it was the expression of the deepest 
conviction, or rather, of the plain reality as he saw it. 
He felt the closest kinship to all created things. Not only 
human beings, but also irrational animals, everything that 
crept and moved upon the earth, even lifeless things he 
loved and cherished with every fiber of his heart.” As if 
by instinct he felt urged to protect all, to help all. He 
could not suffer to see even the least of them hurt or mis- 
treated, were it only by an offensive word.!° 

Thus he flung around the world a bond of blessed 
harmony similar to that which existed between man and 
nature at the dawn of Creation. His love-call resounded 
throughout the entire sense-world and was echoed back to 
him in the loving esteem and obedience of all nature. His 
association with the animals especially was vested with all 
the magic charm of this sweet harmony. A few instances 
will suffice for illustration. 

Once the Saint came to the little town of Alviano to 


FRANCIS AND NATURE 415 


preach the word of God. He mounted an elevated place 
in order that all might see him; he then signaled for quiet. 
The people held their peace and stood about reverently ; 
but a multitude of swallows twittered noisily nearby, 
building their nests. When the noise became so loud that 
Francis could not be heard by the people, he turned to the 
birds and said: “My Sisters Swallows, it is time now for 
me to speak, you have spoken enough. Listen to the word 
of God and be still and peaceful until the sermon is over.” 
And lo! the birds ceased their twittering, and did not even 
move from their places until the sermon was ended, to 
the utter amazement of the people." 

A nobleman from the vicinity of Siena once sent a 
pheasant to the man of God while he was ill. The latter 
accepted it joyfully, not because he had any thought of 
eating it, but because he always found delight in such 
beautiful animals. He then said to the pheasant: ‘‘Praised 
be our Creator, Brother Pheasant!” Then turning to the 
brothers he said: “Now we shall see whether Brother 
Pheasant prefers to remain with us or to fly back to his 
haunts, because they please him more.” A brother was 
charged by Francis to set the fowl down in the vineyard; 
but the bird flew back straightway to the hut of the Saint. 
Then Francis ordered it to be carried still farther away, yet 
the bird again returned to the door of the hut, slipping 
between the habits of the brothers, who were blocking the 
doorway, in order to reach Francis.” 

On another occasion, while Francis was staying at 
Greccio, a man brought him a hare which had been caught 
alive in a snare. Francis gazed at it kindly, and said 
compassionately: “Brother Hare, come to me. Why 
didst thou allow thyself to be so outwitted?” The brother, 
who was holding the hare, set it free, and it immediately 
sprang into the arms of the Saint, hiding itself in his lov- 
ing embrace. After it had rested there awhile, Francis 
fondled it as a mother would fondle her child, and then 
set it down that it might escape to its home in the woods. 


416. OT iB DER.ESIO TEN Per Reue 


Yet, as often as he set it down on the ground, it sprang 
back into his arms, until Francis finally commanded the 
‚brothers to carry it back to the woods. A similar incident 
is related in regard to a wild rabbit, while the Saint was 
staying on an island in the lake of Perugia.'? 

Francis showed the same loving kindness toward the 
fishes. Those which had been caught alive he would toss 
back into the water, with the warning not to let themselves 
be caught again. One day*he was sitting in a boat on the 
lake of Rieti, and a fisherman brought to the Saint, as a 
token of his esteem, a large fish which he had caught. 
Francis accepted the fish joyfully and kindly, called it his 
Brother Fish, and began to sing aloud the praises of God. 
He then placed the fish in the water alongside of the boat, 
and as long as the Saint remained in prayer, the fish 
hovered near the boat, playing in the water, until the 
Saint granted it leave to swim away. 

Another time, he entered a boat to ferry across the same 
lake to his beloved hermitage of Greccio. The ferryman 
offered him a water-fowl, which he had just captured. 
Francis took it into his hands, stroked it gently for a while, 
and then opened his hands to let it fly away. The fowl 
would not leave him, however, but nestled down into his 
palms; Francis, lifting up his eyes, was lost in prayer. 
After a long time he returned to himself as from a dis- 
tance, and in sweet tones he assured the bird not to fear, 
but to return to its haunts. It lingered until he had blessed 
it, then with evident signs of joy it soared aloft and flew 
away.!? 

To these and similar historical incidents, legendary 
tradition has added others which are not authenticated, or 
at least not sufficiently so as to be accepted as genuine. 
We mention only the well-known anecdote of the Wolf 
of Gubbio, as related in the Fioretti. It is no easy task to 
separate fact from fiction in this tale. It is certain that 
Francis fearlessly encountered the wolf in the vicinity 
of Gubbio,!® and that on another occasion he freed the 





St. FRANCIS AND THE WOLF OF GUBBIO 


BEE WEN, |, 


ae 


.. 


ys 








BRANCTS AND NATURE 417 


neighborhood of Greccio from the wolf scourge.’ And 
since at that time this scourge was regarded as a serious 
calamity, than which a more dreaded could hardly befall 
the countryside, the love of Francis for animals and his 
power over them, springing from this love, was perhaps 
typically expressed in the charmingly poetic and popular 
legend “Of the Most Fierce Wolf Who Was Converted by 
Francis to the Greatest Tameness.”’ 18 

Even the lifeless elements were drawn into the magic 
circle of the Saint’s love. When in great need, the miracle 
of the multiplication of the loaves was repeated at his 
word,!? water was changed into wine,?® springs gushed 
forth from the barren rock,?! and fire lost its fierce power. 
When suffering with a grievous illness of his eyes at 
Fonte Colombo near Rieti, the Saint had to submit to the 
cruel operation of cauterization with a glowing iron. Be- 
fore undergoing the ordeal, he consoled his body, shrink- 
ing with fear, and thus spoke to the fire: “Brother Fire, the 
Most High has made thee most strong, beautiful and 
useful beyond all other elements. Be merciful, then, to 
me in this hour, be kind, because I have always loved thee 
in God. I implore the great God who created thee, that 
He may moderate thy ardor, so that thou mayest burn 
mildly and I may be able to bear thy heat.” With this he 
made the sign of the cross over the fire and was ready for 
the operation. The physician took the iron glowing to a 
white heat and applied it to the Saint. Sizzling it sank 
into the tender flesh and burned away a strip from the ear 
to the eye. Francis bore it without a tremor. When the 
brothers, who had fled in terror at the sight, returned, he 
addressed them smilingly: “O ye fearsome cowardlings, 
why did you flee? I assure you that I felt neither the 
torture of the fire nor any other pain,” and turning to the 
physician: “If it is not well, apply the iron again.” 
Utterly amazed, the latter exclaimed: “I have witnessed a 
miracle today!’ The biographer remarks: “I believe that 


418° oo HEED BAISHO RSS TI Par FIN HRS 


he had returned to the primitive condition of innocence, 
to whose will heartless nature showed itself merciful.” ?? 

In fact, the relation of the Saint toward animate as well 
as inanimate nature appears to us as a scene from Paradise 
Regained. Something akin to the condition of man be- 
fore the Fall lends its potent charm to the world of 
Francis and his Friars. Toward this man with the heart 
of gold, with the heart pulsating with brotherly love to- 
ward all creatures because of his love toward the Maker 
of all, animals know no fear or dread. They serve and 
obey him, and even the elements are subject to his bidding. 
“It is marvelous,” remarks his first biographer, “that even 
irrational creatures recognized the fondness of Francis 
for them and felt the power of his most sweet love.” *% 
“They endeavored to repay the Saint for his love and to 
prove themselves duly grateful. If he caressed them, they 
seemed to smile; if he requested anything of them, they 
acquiesced ; if he commanded them, they obeyed.” ** 

At times this docility of creatures appeared as the 
natural echo of the Saint’s love for them, and again it 
seemed the supernatural and directly miraculous reward of 
his love of nature. The basis and the cause of this mutual 
relation is the Saint’s love of God. All the biographers 
of Francis are one on this point. “It is not to be wondered 
at that all creatures honored him who so loved their 
Creator,” says Thomas of Celano.*® And elsewhere: 
“The glorious Father Francis trod the way of obedience 
so faithfully and bore the yoke of subjection to God so | 
perfectly that the obedience of creatures became the signal 
mark of favor on the part of God.” 2° Bonaventure like- 
wise: “Since the man of God had attained to such a 
degree of purity that his flesh was subject to his spirit, 
and his spirit to God in a wonderful harmony and agree- 
ment, it came to pass by divine disposition that all crea- 
tures were thus in marvelous subjection to his will and 
command, who was himself the faithful servant of the 
Creator.” °” The singer Julian of Speyer, shortly after 


FRANCISAND NATURE 419 


the death of the Saint, expressed the same thought in the 
beautiful lines: 


“Hic creaturis imperat, 
Qui nutui subiecerat 

Se totum Creatoris; 
Quicquid in rebus repperit 
Delectamenti regerit 

In gloriam Factoris.” 78 


2. From creatton to the Creator. In the same measure 
as the love of God led the Saint to nature, nature in return 
led him to God. The word of the Psalmist became to him 
an actual experience: “O Lord our Lord, how admirable 
is thy name in the whole earth!” 7° At every turn he be- 
held the truth of the word of St. Paul that God’s eternal 
power and majesty, although invisible, yet manifests itself 
in the realms of creation, whose very existence and per- 
fection proclaims the eternal perfections of the Creator.?® 
Every being became to him a guide on the way to the 
fatherland; in every masterpiece of creation he praised 
the Eternal Artist; the entire universe was as a mirror 
reflecting the love of God.?! He rejoiced in all things 
made by the hand of God, and in the things so joyously 
beheld, he recognized the life-giving Infinite Mind and 
Cause. In all things beautiful he saw the Source of all 
beauty; from all things good he heard the voice calling 
to him: “He who has created us is the Sovereign Good.” 
In the footprints impressed on all creatures ne followed 
everywhere his Beloved ; out of created things he fashioned 
a ladder that led upward to the throne of God.?? 

Those objects that served as symbols of the Son of God 
he prized with special affection.2? They spurred him on 
anew to knightly service of Christ, who to him was the 
Sovereign Lord.*4 

Christ called Himself “the Light of the world,” 3° and 
said: “I came to cast fire on the earth, and what will I 
but that it burn.” 3° Even in themselves fire and light are 


420: ol Ei EDER STORES Ele Te Re N el 


so beautiful and so useful that they reflect most clearly the 
divine beauty and generosity. For this reason Francis 
loved fire and light above all created things, and would 
never hinder their activity.?” He would never extinguish 
a burning light, lamp or candle, because his hand should 
not smother the gleam which was a symbol of the Eternal 
Light. Once when he sat near the hearth, his habit 
caught fire. A brother hastened to extinguish the blaze, 
but Francis begged: “Dearest Brother, do not injure 
Brother Fire.” He would never permit a torch or partly 
burned piece of wood to be thrown away. They had to 
be laid carefully on the ground out of reverence for Him 
whose creatures they were.®? 

Christ called Himself “the Living Water, the Fountain 
which flows unto eternal life” ; He made water the symbol 
of spiritual purification, and with it instituted the sacra- 
ment of Baptism. The Saint accordingly prized this ele- 
ment second only to fire.4® Whenever he washed his 
hands, he did so in a place where the waste water could 
not be trodden under foot.*4 

In the Sacred Scriptures Christ is called the Rock.*? 
Francis was ever mindful of this when he walked over 
stones. He stepped on them as lightly as possible out of 
reverence for his Lord. When he came across the Psalm 
verse: “Thou liftest me up onto a rock,” 4? he read in- 
stead with great devotion: “Thou hast exalted me under 
my feet,’ for he did not wish to raise himself above the 
rocks which were to him symbols of the Saviour.*? 

Christ died on the wood of the cross, and again Holy 
Writ says: “A tree hath hope; if it be cut, it groweth 
green again, and the boughs thereof sprout.” 4° For this 
reason Francis prevented the brothers, when cutting trees, 
from destroying them completely, in order that they still 
might have a chance of growing again.*® 

Of Christ it is written: “I am the Flower of the field 
and the Lily of the valley.” 4" Flowers are, as it were, 
relics of the carpet of paradise on which the Eternal trod 


HRSAIN GIS ANDI NGAS TUT RIE 421 


when He walked the earth. It is indescribable with what 
exquisite joy Francis beheld their beauty, considered their 
fair features, and enjoyed their delightful odors. At once 
his eyes were lifted to that glorious Blossom which 
sprouted forth from the rod of Jesse in the springtime, *8 
whose fragrance has restored to new life thousands and 
thousands of the dead.*® He accordingly ordered the 
gardener not to plant vegetables everywhere, but to leave 
free spaces round about the garden where greening herbs 
and pretty flowers might speak of the dear Father who is 
in heaven. He always had one bed set aside in every 
garden for fragrant and flowering plants that they might 
remind the beholders of the everlasting bliss of heaven.’ 

The Saviour exclaims in the words of the Psalmist: 
“T am a worm and no man.”°! Reason enough for 
Francis to love the worms with tender affection. He 
would lift them carefully from the ground and lay 
them in a safe place, that they might not be crushed by 
those passing by.®? 

His wonder and admiration knew no bounds when he 
saw bees at work. They were to him the reflection of the 
Infinite Wisdom. Their remarkable sagacity and artistic 
structures carried him away to loud praise of the Lord, 
at times spending a whole day in their praise. During 
the winter he had honey and the best wine placed in their 
hives, that they might not suffer from the cold.53 

Most tenderly, however, he loved the lambs, because 
Christ is the Lamb of God which takes away the sins 
of the world,®* and because they typify the meekness and 
humility of the Saviour.°’ At one time the Saint was 
staying at the monastery of St. Verecundus near Gubbio. 
In the same night a sheep gave birth to a lamb, which was 
soon afterward devoured by a wild sow. Francis, on hear- 
ing of this unfortunate incident, was moved to great pity, 
and, thinking of the Spotless Lamb of God, bewailed the 
death of the lambkin and said: “O my Brother Lamb, 
innocent little creature, who remindest men of Christ! 


422) ‘TIALE:I DEAN TSSOTSSTIBIRTANGGTS 


Cursed be the wild beast that devoured thee; neither man 
nor beast shall eat of its flesh!” Wonderful to say, the 
sow sickened forthwith and died after three days, the car- 
cass being thrown into the ditch near the monastery. 
There it lay a long time, dried out completely, and no ani- 
mal touched it.°® 

Passing one day through the March of Ancona he 
espied in the fields a shepherd holding watch over a flock 
of goats and rams. Among these was a little lamb which 
meekly ran alongside the flock and nibbled quietly. 
When Francis saw this, he slackened his pace and said to 
Brother Paul who was accompanying him: “Seest thou 
that little lamb which grazes so peacefully among the 
goats and rams? Thus Our Lord Jesus Christ walked 
mild and meek among the Pharisees. I charge thee, there- 
fore, my son, out of love toward Him to have pity on 
this poor little lamb even as I, to buy it and lead it out 
of that company of goats and rams.” Brother Paul 
marveled at the sympathy of his Father and was likewise 
overcome with pity. But having nothing except their 
poor habits, they knew not where to obtain the purchase 
price. Luckily a traveling merchant just then happened 
along and gave them the money needed for the purchase 
of the lamb. Accompanied by Brother Lamb they con- 
tinued their way toward the city of Osimo. There Francis 
preached on the parable of the lamb and Christ, the Lamb 
of God.5? 

On another occasion he was traveling through the same 
country when he met a man on the way to the market with 
two lambs hanging trussed from his shoulders. The 
servant of God heard the little creatures bleating, and was 
profoundly moved. He approached the man, stroked the 
lambs, and showed as tender sympathy as a mother to- 
ward her weeping child. He then said to the man: 
“Brother, why dost thou plague my little lambs so, trussing 
and hanging them up?” The latter answered: “I am 
carrying them to the market in order to sell them. I am 


REN GESTANDEN A Inte RE 423 


in sore need of money.” The Saint replied. “And what 
will become of them?” The man rejoined: “The buyers 
will slaughter them and eat them.” “That shall not be,” 
answered the Saint. “Here, take this mantle which I have, 
and give me the lambs.” The man agreed and the deal 
was closed. Francis now had the lambs, but he was at a 
loss what to do with them. Finally he returned them to 
the man, but insisted that he was not to sell them again, 
nor to harm them in any way, but to keep them and care 
for them.5® In this manner Francis frequently redeemed 
lambs that were being led to the shambles, out of love to 
that meek Lamb who allowed himself to be led to the 
slaughter for the redemption of sinners.°? 

Theology recognizes in the devout reflection on the 
works of God, no less than in the study of the super- 
natural truths of religion, a means to, and a gauge of 
contemplative life.°° Francis was a past master of this 
genuine mysticism of nature. The consideration of the 
universe with everything in it which lives and moves and 
breathes, that glitters and glows and gleams, stirred him 
to deepest devotion. At every step he heard the thousand- 
fold Sursum Corda echoing from the works of creation, 
filling him with the knowledge, the praise, and the love 
of God. 

But he, too, sang his ceaseless Sursum Corda into the 
heart of creation. As nature led him to God, so he in 
return led it to God. With the simplicity of a dove he 
urged every creature to love its Maker.®! As the Three 
Young Men in the fiery furnace called upon the elements 
of the universe to honor and praise the Father of all 
things, so too this friend of God never tired of praising, 
loving and blessing the Author and Preserver in all the 
elements and in every living thing. With unheard-of 
intimacy he pressed these his Brothers and Sisters to his 
heart and conversed with them of God.£® When he came 
upon a meadow sown with flowers, he preached to them 
and invited them to praise the Lord as though they pos- 


424° IB VSD FRAG OS @ RESTE ER ao 


sessed reason. The swaying grain fields, and vineyards, 
rocks and woods, smiling pastures and babbling brooks, 
earth, fire, air and wind—all, everything he admonished 
in the crystal purity of his heart to love and praise and 
serve God with joy.® 

The animals, above all, that were naturally nearer to 
him than the other creatures, and which had been endowed 
more highly by the Creator, he admonished to be the 
more grateful to God and the more ready to serve Him. 

At Portiuncula a lamb was one time presented to him. 
He exhorted it to pay heed to the praise of God and not 
to disturb the brothers in their prayers. The little crea- 
ture carefully followed this instruction. For when it 
heard the Friars chanting in the choir, it also went into 
the church, bent its knees, and remained in this position, 
as if to repair the irreverence of the ungodly, and to spur 
on the devout to honor the Holy Sacrament.© 

While living in his hermitage he became a close friend 
of a falcon which was building its eyrie nearby. Each 
night the bird would sing its carol before the Saint rose 
for Matins. Francis rejoiced at this exceedingly, for it 
prevented him from missing the time appointed for prayer. 
Once when he was very ill, the falcon spared him and 
did not announce the hour as early and as loudly as 
usual. Only at the first streak of dawn, and as if in- 
structed from on high, it began to sound the clarion call 
to. prayer.c? 

Near the cell of the Saint at Portiuncula a cricket sat 
on a fig-tree, chirping in its familiar, homely way. At 
times Francis would stretch out his hand toward it and 
say: “My Sister Cricket, come here to me!” And the 
little creature would climb into his hand. He then said 
to it: “Sing, Sister Cricket, and praise the Lord, thy 
Creator, with thy joyful tones.” It obeyed immediately 
and began to chirp, not ceasing until the Saint, who had 
joined it in a song of praise, bade it return to its accus- 
tomed perch. There it remained, as if glued to the spot, 


FRANCISAND NATURE 425 


for eight days. Whenever the Saint came down from his 
cell, he would caress it with his hand and bid it to sing 
the praises of its Creator, and forthwith the cricket would 
do his bidding. Finally the Saint said to his companions: 
“Let us now grant a furlough to our Sister Cricket; for 
she has enlivened us long enough with her praises of God.” 
The cricket, now granted leave, went away, and never 
again appeared.®” 

One day Francis was passing through the valley of 
Spoleto. Drawing near to Bevagna he came to a place 
where a large flock of birds, pigeons, crows and jackdaws 
were assembled. He went up to them and greeted them 
as his Sisters, as was his custom. He was not a little 
astonished that the birds did not take alarm and prepare 
for flight as usual, and filled with joy he bade them hear 
the word of God. Among other things he said to them: 
“My feathered Sisters, you especially ought to praise your 
Creator, since He has given you down for your raiment 
and wings for flight. Among all His creatures God has 
created you most wonderfully, and has allotted the pure 
air for your element: you neither sow nor reap, and in 
spite of this He protects and guides you without the least 
care on your part.” At these words the birds began to 
show their joy after their fashion, stretching their necks, 
spreading their wings, and looking at him with gaping 
beaks. Francis then passed up and down among them 
and stroked them with the hem of his habit on their heads 
and backs. Finally he blessed them with the sign of the 
cross and bade them fly away. He then departed with 
his brothers from the place, praising and thanking God, 
whom all creatures honor in their way. In his simplicity 
of heart he began to chide himself for not having preached 
to the birds long before. And from that time on he was 
accustomed to invite all the birds, the quadrupeds, the 
reptiles and all inanimate creatures to love and praise 
their Creator.‘® 


426 TEE UD BAR SOR Sil Ree 


“Taudans laudare monuit, 
Laus illi semper affuit, 
Laus, inquam, Salvatoris. 
Invitat aves, bestias, 

Et creaturas alias 
Ad laudem Conditoris.” ® 


When at last his bodily eyes were closed to the beauties 
of the external world, his inspired and blissful love of 
nature became all the more interior, clarified and fervent. 
He became all the more mindful of the countless benefits 
and comforts which he had received from creatures all 
his life. His soul was overwhelmed with gratitude and 
joy. He struck the full chords of his poetic heart and 
sang “The Praises of the Creatures,’ in order that all 
the world might be moved to the praise of God, and that 
all men might honor God in His creation.7° 

Just as his pious love of nature evér found its source 
in God and reverted to God, so now, in this Canticle, he 
sinks before God into the very dust and confesses His 
infinite majesty and his own nothingness. He then lifts 
up the eye of his soul to the lordly sun, because it is more 
beautiful and beneficial than all other creatures, and be- 
cause it is the image and the symbol of the Lord, whose 
countenance shines like the sun, and who calls Himself 
the Sun of Justice.“ With Brother Sun, the Sisters 
Stars and Moon announce the goodness and greatness 
of the Eternal. And wind and tempest, clouds and air, 
how beneficent they show themselves to their fellow- 
creatures in the vault of heaven and on earth below, how 
loudly they call into the fathomless spaces their praise of 
God! And Sister Water, so useful and humble and sweet 
and pure, and Brother Fire, so beautiful and joyful and 
strong and mighty, and Mother Earth, so loving in her 
care for man and beast and herb and flower: water and 
fire and earth and all that it bears and nourishes, should 
praise the Lord! Those favorites of God also, the meek, 
the suffering and the lovers of peace should praise Him! 


FRANELSAND- NATURE 427 


And Brother Death, who leads the world-weary children 
of God back into the arms of the Creator, should praise 
Him! All should praise and love and glorify the Lord! 


“Most high, omnipotent, good Lord, 
Praise, glory and honor and benediction all, are Thine. 
To Thee alone do they belong, Most High, 
And there is no man fit to mention Thee. 
Praise be to Thee, my Lord, with all Thy creatures, 
Especially to my worshipful Brother Sun, 
The which lights up the day, and through him dost 
Thou brightness give; 
And beautiful is he and radiant with splendor great; 
Of Thee, Most High, signification gives. 
Praised be my Lord, for Sister Moon and for the 
Stars; 
In heaven Thou hast formed them clear and precious 
and fair. 
Praised be my Lord for Brother Wind 
And for the air and clouds and fair and every kind 
of weather, 
By the which Thou givest to Thy creatures nourish- 
ment. 
Praised be my Lord for Sister Water, 
The which is greatly helpful and humble and precious 
and pure. 
Praised be my Lord for Brother Fire, 
By the which Thou lightest up the dark. 
And fair is he and gay and mighty and strong. 
Praised be my Lord for our Sister, Mother Earth, 
The which sustains and keeps us 
And brings forth diverse fruits with grass and flowers 
bright. 
Praised be my Lord for those who for Thy love 
forgive 
And weakness bear and tribulation. 
Blessed those who shall in peace endure, 
For by Thee, Most High, shall they be crowned. 
Praised be my Lord for our Sister, the bodily Death, 
From the which no living man can flee. 
Woe to them who die in mortal sin; 


428 TEE. ASTRO shes Ponte OA Neer 


Blessed those who shall find themselves in Thy most 
holy will, 

For the second death shall do them no ill. 

Praise ye and bless ye my Lord, and give Him 
thanks, 

And be subject unto Him with great humility. 
en 


“The Canticle of the Sun” this sunny song was called 
by the Saint.74 Like the sun it mounts to the very heavens 
and lays the tribute of love and of praise of every creature 
before the throne of God: “Praised be Thou, my Lord, 
with all Thy creatures, praised, praised, praised... .” 
Like the sun it should travel throughout the wide world; 
wherever the Friars Minor, the Minstrels and Jongleurs 
of God appeared, there should also this Canticle be en- 
toned, to enthuse men thereby to the service of God and 
to the true joy in God.” Like the sun this Canticle moved 
Francis himself to utter joy and to closest union with 
God in the midst of suffering; by day and by night he 
had it sung unto himself during the martyrdom of his 
last weeks and months.” And when the hour of de- 
parture struck, he added the stanza on Brother Death,” 
and on the wings of this his swan-song he passed from 
this world to the Father of all. 

The Canticle of the Sun is, however, more than the 
swan-song of the Saint; it is the symbol and the genius 
of his life and his Ideals. For was he not called to be 
the Knightly Herald of God? Was not every beat of his 
heart a hymn of divine love? Did he not pass through 
the world as a Troubadour of the Lord, singing the 
chansons de geste of his Master? In a word, did he not 
even in his last hour urge his brothers and disciples of 
all times: “We are the Minstrels of God, who should 
lift up the hearts of men, and move them to divine 
joy”? *8 “Thus he molded out of humility and love his 
life into a poem—he, the greatest poet that lived at the 
time.” 79 This life was a single, uninterrupted Canticle 


EFRANGISPAINDIN TÜRE 429 


of the Sun, a song of such enchanting power, of such 
sweet melody, that the godless and joyless world, even 
of to-day, after seven hundred years, is charmed by it, 
and can be saved by it. With this Canticle, which we 
with the holy Minstrel of Assisi call the Canticle of the 
Sun, ends the harmonious finale and the last chord of 
his life, so full of melody and sunshine. 





BIBLIOGRAPHY 


The following works will help to acquaint the student with the 
sources bearing on the life of St. Francis and early Franciscan 
history: H. Böhmer, Analekten zur Geschichte des hl. Franziskus 
von Assisi (large edition) Tübingen, Mohr 1904, LXIII-LXXII; 
Walter Götz, Die Quellen zur Geschichte des hl. Franz von Assisi, 
Gotha, Perthes 1904; Paul Sabatier, Examen des quelques travaux 
récents sur les opuscules de St. Francois (opuscules de critique 
historique, fascic. X), Paris, Fischbacher 1904; Léon de Kerval, 
Les sources de histoirie de Saint Francois d’Assise, Perouse, Unione 
tipographica cooperativa, 1905; G. Schnürer, Neuere Quellen- 
forschungen über den hl. Franz von Assisi, in: Historisches Jahr- 
buch 1907, 10 ss. P. Gratian, O. M. Cap., Les sources de la vie 
de S. Francois, in: Etudes franciscaines t. XVIII (1907) 350-383; 
J. Jorgensen, Der hl. Franz von Assisi, Kempten und München, 
Kosel, 1908; H. Tilemann, Studien zur Individualität des Fran- 
ziskus von Assist, Leipzig, Teubner 1914, 6-46; P. Fidentius van 
den Borne, O. F. M., Die Franziskus-Forschung in ihrer Entwick- 
lung dargestellt, München, Leutner 1917; Fr. Cuthbert, ©. M. 
Cap., Life of St. Francis, new edition, London, Longmans, 1921, 
492-527; Le Monnier, Histoirie de S. Francois, nouvelle éd., Paris, 
Librairie S. Francois, 1923, Introduction. 

A critical estimate of these research works would exceed the 
scope of this book and bring to light very little that is new. We 
restrict ourselves therefore to the bare mention—with the excep- 
tion of a few explanatory comments—of those sources from which 
we have principally or at least frequently drawn. They can be 
classified into the following groups: I. the writings of St. 
Francis; II. Biographies of Francis compiled in the 13th century; 
III. Compilations made by the Spirituals in the beginning of the 
14th century; IV. Biographies of early companions of St. Francis; 
V. The earliest Franciscan chronicles; VI. Records not of Fran- 
ciscan origin. 


ISTHE: WRITINGS OFISTSERANGIS 


Edited by H. Böhmer, also by P. Leon. Lemmens, O. F. M., 
Opuscula S. Patris Francisci Assisiensis, Ad Claras Aquas 


431 


432 6 HELD. EEA TS OIEEESE 1VEBERSASNESS 


(Quaracchi), Collegium S. Bonaventure, 1904. It is noteworthy 
that both editions, although appearing simultaneously, contain the 
same text, with the exception of a few minor discrepancies. Since 
perhaps only one of these editions is available to the reader, we 
quote both, thus: Opusc. ed. Bohmer ... Lemmens. ... A Ger- 
man version of the Opuscula has been made by Fr. Maternus 
Rederstorff, O. F. M., Regensburg, Pustet 1910; a French version 
by Fr. Ubald d’Alengon, O.M.Cap., Les Opuscules de Saint 
Francois d’Assise, Paris, Poussielgue 1905; and an English one by 
Fr. Paschal Robinson, O.F.M., The Writings of St. Francis, 
Philadelphia, Dolphin Press, 1906, followed shortly after by that 
of Countess de la Warr, The Writings of St. Francis, London, 
Burns and Oates 1907. An Italian translation has been made by 
Fr. Vittorino Facchinetti, OÖ. F. M., San Francesco d’ Assisi, Milano 
1921. These writings of St. Francis, though not extensive, are 
nevertheless of greatest importance in writing his story and espe- 
cially for the proper estimation of his Ideals. 


IV BIOGRAPHIES 2 O be Siar RANCIST @ haepEe 
XT CEN PWR Y. 


1. FR. THOMAS DE CELANO, St. Francisci Assisiensis vita et mira- 
cula, ed. Fr. Eduardus Alenconiensis, O. M. Cap., Rome, Desclee, 
Lefébre et Soc., 1906. For other editions cf. Bibliotheca hagio- 
graphica latina n. 3096 sq. 3106sq. The Legenda Prima (1228/ 
1229), the Legenda Secunda (1245/1247) and the Tractatus de 
miraculis (1253) by Thomas de Celano are marked by running 
numbers in the excellent edition of Fr. Ed. d’Alencon, so that they 
can be quoted very simply thus: Thom. Cel. I, n.5=Thomz de 
Celano, Legenda Prima, n.5; Thom. Cel. II, n.7=Legenda Se- 
cunda, n.7; Tract. de mir., n.9—=Thomx de Celano, Tractatus de 
miraculis, n.9. The English translation of the Celanese Legends 
by Dr. Rosedale, London, Dent, I904, is of very little scientific 
value. The reader will find it advantageous to compare the Latin 
original with my quotations in the course of this book. The 
Legenda Prima was written by Celano partly in his character as 
witness, partly on the oral communications of other witnesses; for 
the Legenda Secunda he made use chiefly of the written records 
compiled by various companions of Francis, in particular of those 
by Brothers Leo, Angelus and Rufinus, written by order of the 
General Chapter of 1224. 

2. LEGENDA TRIUM SOCIORUM, ed. Faloci-Pulignani, in: Miscel- 
lanea francescana, vol, VII, p. 81sqq., and as a separate publica- 
tion, Foligno 1898. We quote simply: Tres Soc. with the running 
number of the aforementioned edition. Regarding earlier editions 


BILE LOG RAP HY 433 


cf. Bibliotheca hagr. lat. n. 3114-3117. The Legend of the Three 
Companions originated no doubt between the years 1244 and 1246, 
but is not the work of the Brothers Leo, Angelus and Rufinus, as 
it represents at best only a fragment of the writings compiled by 
them. The attempt to reconstruct the entire Legend of the Three 
Companions made by Marcellino da Civezza and Teofilo Domeni- 
chelli, O. F.M., is a failure. (La Legenda di San Francesco, 
scritta da tre suot compagni, pubblicata per la prima volta nella 
sua vera integrita, Roma, 1899). An English translation was made 
by Miss E. Gurney Salter, Legend of the Three Companions, 
London, Dent 1902. 

3. Fr. Iutranus A Sprra, Vita S. Francisci, ed. Van Ortroy, 
S.J., in: Analecta Bollandiana t. XXI, 160-202, also Officium S. 
Francisci, ed. Fr. Hilarin Felder, O.M.Cap., (Die liturgischen 
Reimofhzien auf die heiligen Franziskus und Antonius gedichtet 
und komponiert von Fr. Julian von Speier, Freiburg in d. Schw. 
1901). The author of this Vita, who died in 1250, bases his work 
almost exclusively on the Legenda Prima of Celano. 

4. S. BONAVENTURA, Legenda (maior) S. Francisci ed. a PP. 
Collegii S. Bonaventure, Ad Claras Aquas, 1898. This edition is 
a special publication taken from t. VIII of the best known 
Bonaventure edition of Quaracchi, with the omission of the vari- 
ants. We quote thus: S. Bonav., with chapter and number.— 
The General Chapter of 1260 commissioned Bonaventure with the 
elaboration of this comprehensive Legend; the General Chapter of 
1263 approved it; the General Chapter of 1266 finally ordered the 
suppression of all earlier Legends for the sake of uniformity and 
harmony. An abridgment of this biography of S. Francis was 
made by Bonaventure for choir use and designated as Legenda 
Minor. The Legenda was done into English by Miss Lockhart, 
London, Washbourne, 4th ed. 1898; also by E. Gurney Salter, 
London, Dent, 1004. 

5. Fr. BERNARDUS A Bessa, Liber de Laudibus Beati Francisct; 
accedit eiusdem auctoris: Catalogus Generalium Ministrorum ed. 
Fr. Hilarinus a Lucerna, O. M. Cap., Rome, Typographia editrice 
industriale, 1897. Another edition appeared almost simultaneously 
in the Analecta Franciscana, t. III, 666-692.—The General Chap- 
ter of 1277 ordered the Brothers of all Provinces to collect and 
transmit all as yet unknown records regarding Francis and his 
companions. The meager returns of this inquiry were then utilized 
by Fr. Bernard of Bessa, a former secretary of St. Bonaventure, 
to compile his Liber de Laudibus. More important than the Liber 
itself is the appended catalogue of the first Ministers General of 
the Order. 

6. ANonyMous Perusinus, Legenda S. Francisci ed. Van 


434 ene EBSD OATS Ose TIEREN HS 


Ortroy, S.J., in: Miscellanea franciscana, Vol. IX, Foligno 1902, 
p. 33ss. This Legend was also the result of the above mentioned 
decree of the Chapter of 1277. Its author introduces himself in 
n.2 as a “disciple of the first disciples of Francis.” With the 
exception of a few original passages, it represents an abridged 
copy of the Legend of the Three Companions. According to Van 
Ortroy both are based on a common original source. 


11. COMPILATIONS “BY STHESPIRIT UAL SEITE 
THE BEGINNING OF THE XIVTH CENTURY 


I. SPECULUM PERFECTIONIS status Fratris Minoris scilicet Beati 
Francisci (completed 1318) ed. Sabatier, collection de documents 
pour Vhistoire religieuse et littéraire du Moyen-äge, Paris, Fisch- 
bacher, 1898. The editor wrongly entitles this work: “Sancti 
Francisci Legenda antiquissima auctore fratre Leone.” In reality 
‘the Speculum was composed by a Friar of Portiuncula who in- 
clined to the Spirituals and who utilized mainly the “Rotuli” or 
“Cedule Fratris Leonis” and also the Vita Secunda of Thomas 
de Celano. We quote: Spec. Perf. with the running number. An 
English translation of the text only was made by De la Warr, 
London, Burns and Oates, 1902. 

2. Actus Beatrt FRANCISCI ET SOCIORUM EIUS (1322-1328) ed. 
Sabatier, Paris, Fischbacher, 1902, published in Italian under the 
name of Fioretti di San Francesco in countless editions and trans- 
lated into numerous languages. English translation: The Little 
Flowers of St. Francis, London, Cath. Truth Society, 1912. The 
original of the Actus-Fioretti was composed probably in whole or 
in part by Fr. Hugolinus of Monte Georgio. 

3. Fr. ÜBERTINUS DE Casaut, Arbor vite crucifixe Jesu (1305) 
impressus Venetiis per Andream de Bonettis de Papia, 1485 (an 
unpaged incunabulum—for this reason only book and chapter can 
be quoted). To the Arbor vite must be added the official writings 
which Ubertinus composed against the Community in the dispute 
regarding the observance: (1) The Responsio, an answer to the 
four contested points between the Spirituals and the Community 
(1310); (2) the Rotulus, or article of accusation against the 
Community (1311); finally (3) the Declaratio, or the reply of 
Ubertinus (August, 1311). These writings were published by Fr. 
Franz Ehrle, S.J. (Zur Vorgeschichte des Konzils von Vienne, 
in: Archiv fiir Litteratur-und Kirchengeschichte des Mittelalters 
III, Berlin 1887, 1-195). 

4. FR. ANGELUS CLARENUS, Exrpositio Regule Fratrum Minorum 
(1318-1326) ed. P. Livarius Oliger, O.F.M., Ad Claras Aquas 
1912, and Historia septem tribulationum Ordinis Minorum (1313- 


BT Bilal OGRA PB Hay. 435 


1324), ed. Döllinger, Beiträge zur Sektengeschichte des Mittelal- 
ters, 2 Teil, München, Beck, 1890. We still depend on Döllinger’s 
edition, although it is very defective. Fr. Ehrle has published only 
fragments of the Historia (in Archiv fiir Lit—und Kircheng. II 
und III Band). Fr. Tocco has published as yet only the first two 
“Tribulations” (le due prime tribolazioni dell’ Ordine francescano, 
Roma, 1908). 

These compilations by the Spirituals are of great moment insofar 
as they were intended to embody the earliest Franciscan traditions 
and in part really succeed in this task. The writings or memoirs 
of the first disciples of Francis form the basis for the Speculum 
perfectioms and also to a great extent for the compilations of 
Ubertinus and Angelus. The Actus-Fioretti likewise contain many 
historically correct data. Taken as a whole, however, they are 
the poetical expression of the “psyche” of St. Francis and his 
first companions; the spirit which the Fioretti breathes, is without 
doubt the spirit of the Poverello and his first disciples. 


IV. BIOGRAPHIES OF DISCIPLES OF FRANCIS 


1. Vira S. Antoni auctore anonymo, ed. Léon de Kerval, S. 
Antonü de Padua vite due, quarum altera hucusque inedita, Paris, 
Fischbacher, 1904. The first only of these two Lives is important, 
the so-called Legenda Prima or antiquissima, which was written 
shortly after the canonization of the Saint (1232). Concerning 
the earlier editions of this Vita, cf. Bibliotheca hagiographica 
latina, 587 sqq. 

2. Vıra S. CLARE auctore Fr. Thome de Celano, ed. Acta 
Sanctorum, Augusti t. II, p. 754-757, It was composed following 
the canonization of St. Clare (1255), and is a rich mine of ma- 
terial for the student of early Franciscan history. Of importance 
are also the Regula Sororum Pauperum, ed. Sbaralea, Bullarium 
franciscanum I, 671-678, and the Letters of St. Clare, four to 
Blessed Agnes of Prague (Acta SS., Martii t. I, p. 505-507), and 
one to Sister Ermentrude in Flanders (Wadding, Annales 
Minorum, Supplementum ad a. 1257, n.20). Cf. Fr. Paschal 
Robinson, O. F.M. Life of St. Clare, Philadelphia, Dolphin Press, 
1910, for the English translation of these sources. 

3. Vira B. ZEcıpıı, auctore Fr. Leone, ed. Analecta Franciscana 
III, Ad Claras Aquas 1897, 74-115. Concerning this edition of the 
Vita (taken from the Chronica XXIV. Generalium) and also two 
others undertaken by Fr. Lemmens and the Bollandists, cf. Fr. 
Gisbert Menge, O.F.M., Der selige ZEgidius von Assist, Pader- 
born 1906, VII-XV. The Vita was composed shortly after the 
death of Brother Giles (1261). Appended to the Vita are the 


436% Do BED ER ISIS © ie soe TERN ates 


Dicta B. Aigidii, a collection of truly golden sayings of Brother 
Giles, gathered by companions of the Blessed and rendered avail- 
able by Fr. Gisbert Menge in a critical Latin edition (Dicta B. 
ZEgidü Assis. secundum codd. mss. emendata et denuo edita a 
PP. Collegü S. Bonav., Ad Claras Aquas, 1905) and in a good 
German translation (Der selige Azgidius, Paderborn, 1906, 63- 
04). Fr. Paschal Robinson has given us an excellent English 
translation, The Golden Sayings of Brother Giles, Philadelphia, 
Dolphin Press, 1907. 


Vo THE EARLIEST FRANCISCAN GCHRONICBEES 


1. CHRONICA FR. IoRDANI DE JANO, ed. Bohmer, Paris, Fisch- 
bacher, 1908. The earlier editions by G. Voigt (Abhandlungen 
der kgl. sächsischen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig 
t. VI, 1870), and by the Collegium S. Bonaventure (Analecta 
franc. t. I), are lacking in completeness and accuracy. Although 
written as late as 1262, the Chronicle of Fr. Jordan is of great 
value, since its author became a Franciscan as early as 1217 or 
1218, and consequently is an eye-witness to most events which he 
chronicles. 

2. TRACTATUS Fr. THomM# DE EccLEsTton de Adventu Fratrum 
Minorum in Angliam, ed. A. G. Little, Paris, Fischbacher, 1909. 
Earlier editions by Brewer (Monumenta franciscana I, London, 
1858), Howlett (Monum. franc. II, London, 1882) and Collegium 
S. Bonaventure (Analecta franciscana 1). Fr. Thomas of Eccles- 
ton joined the Friars about 1232 and completed his chronicle 1258- 
1259. He was for the main part an eye-witness of the chronicled 
events. English translation by Fr. Cuthbert, O.M.Cap., The 
Chronicle of Thomas of Eccleston, London, 1909. 

3. CHRONICA FR. SALIMBENE DE ApDAM, ed. Holder-Egger, 
Monumenta Germanie historica, Scriptores t. XXXII, Hannovere 
et Lipsiz, 1905-1913. Before this edition, only the greatly 
abridged text of Bertani, Chronica Fr. Salimbene Parmensis, 
O.M., Parme 1857, was available. Fr. Salimbene was born 1221, 
joined the Friars in 1238, and completed his chronicle about 1288. 


VI REGORDS®ANDIREPORTSENOW OF 
FRANCISCAN ORIGIN 


1. PapAL DocuMENnTs relating to the origin of the Franciscan 
Order, ed. Sbaralea, Bullarium franciscanum t. I and II, Rome, 
1759 and 1761. 

2. Iacosr VITRIACENSIS de B. Francisci eiusque societate testi- 
monia, ed. Bohmer, Analekten zur Geschichte des Franziskus von 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 437 


Assisi, p. 94-106: two letters of Cardinal Jacques de Vitry written 
in 1216 and 1220 respectively, likewise a chapter of his Historia 
orientalis, written 1223-1226. To these are added: Jacobi Vitria- 
censis sermones ad Fratres Minores duo, ed. Fr. Hilarin Felder, 
Rome, 1903, composed between 1228 and 1240. 

3. TESTIMONIA MINORA SHCULI xı de S. P. Francisco, ed. 
Fr. Leonard Lemmens, O.F.M., Archivum franc. historic. I, 68- 
84; an excellent compilation and evaluation of the Franciscan texts 
of THoMAS oF SPALATO (died 1222), BURCHARD OF URSPERG (died 
1230), RoGER oF WENDOVER (died 1236), WALTER OF GISBURNE 
and others. To these must be added several passages relating to 
Francis in STEPHANUS DE BORBONE, O.P., Tractatus de diversis 
rebus predicabilibus (composed before 1260), ed. Lecoy de la 
Marche, Anecdotes historiques, légendes et apologues tirés de 
recueil inédit d’Etienne de Bourbon, Domintcain de XIIle siécle, 
Paris, Renouard, 1877. 





NOTES 


CHAPTER I 


1. Thus Thom. Cel. I, n. 21; II, n. 2; S. Clara, Regula sororum pauperum 
c. 6, Sbaralea, Bullar. Francisc. I, 674; Iordanus a Iano, Chron. n. 1. 

Cf. The Rule of St. Benedict c. 58, also the copious references in Ducange- 
Carpenterius, Glossarium medie@ et infime latinitatis, s. v. ‘‘Conversio.’’ St. 
Clare of Assisi likewise (loc. cit. c. ı) designates her embracing of religious life 
as a conversion. 

3. Thom. Cel. I, n. 3-22; II, n. 3-14; Tres Soc. n. 3-25. 

4. Testamentum, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 36, Lemmens 77. 

5. Thom. Cel. I, n. 1-3; Tres Soc. n. ay 

DRIFESSOCHH oe cis Thom. CelS Tian: 

7. H. Tilemann, Studien zur I ndividualitat des Franziskus von Assisi Leipzig- 
Berlin, 1914, 201. 

8. Thom. Cel. I,n. 2. 9. Tres Soc. n. 2. 

10. Thom. Cel. II, n. 4; Tres Soc. n. 4. For the date of the captivity, cf. 
Pennacchi, L’anno della prigionia di S. Francesco in Perugia, Perugia 19135. 

11. See Chapter II. 12. Thom. Cel. I, n. 3-4. 13. Thom. Cel. I, n. 5; 
Ires Soc. n. 3. 14. Tres Soc. ıbid. 13. Tres Soc. n. 6. Cf. pi ete 160 Tres 
Soc.n.7. 17. Tres Soc. n. 8; Thom. Cel.I,n.6. 18. Thom. Cel. I, n. 6. 19. 
Cf. Thom. Cel. I, n. 2 with n. 6-7. 20. Thom. Cel. I, n. 7. 21. Loc. cit. n. 7. 
22. Cf. Thom. Cel. I, n. 21. 

23. Thom. Cel. I, n. 8-21; Tres Soc. n. 8-25. 

24. Testament., Opusc. ed. Böhmer 36 sq., Lemmens 77 sq. 

25. Concerning the greatly uncertain chronology of St. Francis cf. Fr. Leone 
Patrem, Cronologia di S. Francesco, in: Miscellanea francescana Vol. IX (1902), 
fasc. 3; Böhmer, Analekten, Tübingen 1904, 123 ff.; Fr. Paschal Robinson, Quo 
anno Ordo fratrum Minorum inceperit, in: Archivum franciscanum historicum II 
(1909), 181-196; Enrico Pessina, Cronologia francescana, esposizione storico- 
cronologica della Vita di S. Francesco d’ Assisi, Napoli 1918; P. Dominic Mandic, 
De protoregula Fratrum Minorum, Mostar 1923. 

26. Thom. Cel. I, n. 22; Tres Soc. n. 25; S. Bonav. c. 3, n 

27. Tres Soc. n. 28 sq.3 "Thom. Cel. lene2esiigns fs; Vita fr. Atgidu, Anal. 
franc. III, 75; S. Bonav. c. 3, n. 3-4. 

28. Tres Soc. n. 20. 

29. Thom. Cel. I, n. 32 sq.; II, n. 16 sq.; Tres Soc. n. 46-51. 

30. Testamentum, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 37, Lemmens 79. 

31. Thom. Cel.I,n. 32; Tres. Soc.n.5ı. 32. S. Bonav.c.3,n.8. 33. Thom. 
Cel. I, n. 22. 

34. Thom. Cel. loc. cit.; Tres Soc. n. 29. The attempts made to reconstruct 
the primitive rule have so far led to no satisfactory results. The reconstruction 
proposed by Vlastimil Kybal (Die Ordensregeln des hl. Franz von Assisi, Leipzig 
1915, I-16) approaches perhaps quite closely to the original text, while that of 
Karl Müller (Die Anfänge des Minoritenordens, Freiburg, 1885, 4 f. 185-188), 
of Böhmer (Analekten zur Geschichte des Franziskus von Assisi, Tübingen, 1904, 
LV. 88 f.), and of Fr. Cuthbert, O. M. Cap. (“The Primitive Rule of St. Francis.” 


439 


440. THE TD EAP SiO a Te RAG hs 


in: Life of St. Francis of Assisi, London, 1913, Append. I, p. 393-403) are some- 
what too elaborate. Cf. P. Dom. Mandic loc. cit. 46 sqq. 

35. “In Pentecoste conveniebant omnes fratres apud S. Mariam et tracta- 
bant, qualiter melius possent regulam observare . . . Sanctus autem Franciscus 
faciebat admonitiones, reprehensiones et precepta, sicut ei iuxta consilium 
Domini videbatur ..., ut s. evangelium et regulam, quam promiserant, 
firmiter observarent ...” Tres Soc. n. 57. Anonymus Perusinus says ex- 
pressly: ‘‘In quo capitulo tractabatur, qualiter aliam meliorem regulam possent 
observare.” 

36. Proofs by Kybal loc. cit. 26-42. 

37. Epistula data Ianue Octobr. 1216, Böhmer, Analekten 94. 

38. While it was formerly thought that the rule of 1221 originated by simply 
adding new chapters to the primitive rule of 1210 (Sabatier, Speculum perfec- 
tionis XXXVI sq.; P. van Ortroy, in: Analecta Bolland. XXIV, 413; Lemmens, 
Opuscula S. Francisci 160; Felder, Geschichte der wissenschaftlichen Studien im 
Franziskanerorden 102 et al.), Kybal has now, in my opinion, brought proof that 
the rule of 1221 is a comprehensive new edition (Kybal loc. cit. 16-26), or as 
Fr. Cuthbert has already stated (loc. cit. 263), a uniform revision. This is not, 
however, as Kybal thinks, to be regarded as an independent rule, unrelated to 
the one of 1210, which in fact evolved by steps from the primitive rule in the 
first decades of the Order. That the opinion of Kybal is untenable is made 
clear from the fact that the rule of 1221 is always designated in the MSS. as 
“the first rule, approved by Innocent III (died 1216) without a Bull” (Böhmer 
1, Lemmens 24). If Kybal asserts (loc. cit. 17 ff.) that this annotation on the 
MS. is based on deception, reducible to a ‘‘pia fraus,’’ one can only marvel at 
such an arbitrary opinion. 

39. Iordan.alanon.15. Caesar’s fitness for this task is specially emphasized 
by Fr. Jordan n. 9 in the words: ‘This Caesar was even as a secular cleric a 
follower of evangelical perfection.” 

40. ‘‘Heec est vita evangelii Iesu Christi, quam frater Franciscus petit a 
domino papa Innocentio concedi sibi et confirmari, et dominus papa concessit 
et confirmavit eam sibi et suis fratribus habitis et futuris.” Regula I, Opusc. ed. 
Bohmer 1, Lemmens 24. 

41. “Regula et vita istorum fratrum hec est, scilicet vivere in obedientia, in 
castitate et sine proprio, et Domini nostri Iesu Christi doctrinam et vestigia 
sequi.” Regula I, c. 1, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 1, Lemmens 25. 

42. ‘“‘Teneamus ergo verba, vitam et doctrinam et sanctum eius evangelium, 
qui dignatus est rogare Patrem suum et nomen eius nobis manifestare.”’ Reg. 
I, c. 22, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 22, Lemmens 56. 

43. Spec. perf. c. 1 and 11; Ubertino di Casale, Arbor vite lib. 5, c. 3, Sabatier, 
Spec. perf. CXLIII. 

44. Spec. perf. p. 256. 45. S. Bonav. c. 4, n. 11. 

46. Thus Fr. Leo in the Spec. perf. c. 53 (according to the edition of 1509, 
Sabatier p. 90): ‘‘B. Franciscus, dum fecit regulam, de omni capitulo separatim 
consulebat Dominum, si esset secundum voluntatem suam.” 

47. ‘‘Ut sciant [ministri] omnes fratres teneri ad observandam perfectionem 
sancti evangelii, volo quod in principio et in fine regule sit scriptum, quod 
fratres teneantur sanctum evangelium Domini nostri Iesu Christi firmiter ob- 
servare.” Spec. perf. c. 3. 

48. Regula II, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 29. 35, Lemmens 63. 74. 

49. Thus the tradition of the Spirituals as given in the Spec. perf. c. 1-3. It 
is evidently a legendary fabrication insofar as the tradition relates that Francis 
made erasures in the Rule in consequence of the energetic remonstrances of the 
Ministers. That the Vicar of the Order, Brother Elias, and his partisans desired 
a mitigation of the rule, is clear from the narrative of St. Bonaventure, that 
Elias had allowed the draft of the rule entrusted to him by Francis to disappear 
through carelessness, and thus forced the Saint to make a second transcript, 
which was, however, identical with the first: S. Bonav. c. 4, n. 11. 

so. “‘Tempore, quo de regula confirmanda fiebat inter fratres collatio, Sancto 


NOTES 441 


de huiusmodi negotio vehementer sollicito talia monstrantur in somniis.” 
Thom. Cel. II, n. 209. 

51. Thom. Cel. II, n. 209; S. Bonav. c. 4, n. ıı. 52. Thom. Cel. II, n. 208. 
53. Kybal, ro f. 54. Matth. xix, 21. 55. Matth. xvi, 24. 56. Luke xiv, 26. 
57. Matth. xix, 29. 

58. Böhmer ı, Lemmens 24 sq. The latter omits the words ‘“Evangeli Iesu 
Christi.” They are, in fact, not to be found in the MSS. of the so-called Por- 
tiuncula Book, but are contained in the Expositio Regule of Fr. Angelus Clarenus 
(1317, resp. 1321-1323), ed. P. Livarius Oliger, O.F.M., Ad Claras Aquas, 1912, 
12. 

59. Bohmer 29, Lemmens 63. 

60. These regulations which Francis culled from the Gospel and placed in 
his rule, are always designated by St. Bonaventure (e.g. Expositio super regulam 
Fratrum Minorum c. 2.n. 17, Opera VIII, 400. 402; Epistula de sandaliis aposto- 
lorum n. 15, Opera VIII, 390) as the Rule of the Apostles (Regula Apostolorum), 

61. Tres Soc. n. §1. 

62. Thom. Cel. I, n. 18-20; II, n. 116; Tres Soc. n. 60. Cf. Lempp, Die An- 
Jänge des Klarissenordens, in: Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte XIII (1892), 181- 
245; Lemmens, Die Anfänge des Klarissenordens, in: Römische Quartalschrift XVI 
(1902), 93-124; Wauer, Entstehung und Ausbreitung des Klarissenordens besonders 
in den deutschen Minoritenprovinzen, Leipzig, 1906; Liv. Oliger, De origine regu- 
larum ordinis S. Clare, in: Archiv. franc. histor. V, (1912), 181-209. 413-447; 
René de Nantes, Les origines de Ordre de Sainte Claire, Paris 1912; Fr. Cuth- 
bert, St. Francis of Assisi, p. 131-149. 

63. ‘‘Ipsis [i.e. St. Clare and her companions] beatus Franciscus, quibus tam- 
quam modo genitis non cibum solidum, sed qui videbatur competere, potum 
lactis formulam vite tradidit.” Letter of Gregory IX, dated May 11, 1238, to 
Bl. Agnes of Prague, in: Sbaralea, Bullar. franc. I, Rome, 1759, 243. 

64. Opusc. ed. Böhmer 35, Lemmens 75. 

65. Thus e.g. in his Testament (Böhmer 36. 38, Lemmens 77. 80): ‘Dominus 
dedit mihi fratri Francisco incipere facere poenitentiam. . . . Ubicumque non 
fuerint recepti, fugiant in aliam terram ad faciendam pcenitentiam.’’ The 
first disciples of Francis styled themselves ‘‘viri poenitentiales’” (Tres Soc. n. 
37). The evangelical life of the Poor Ladies is likewise designated simply as 
“Penance” by Tres Soc. n. 60 and by St. Clare herself: ‘‘Altissimus dignatus 
est cor meum illustrare, ut exemplo et doctrina beatissimi Patris nostri Fran- 
cisci poenitentiam facerem” (Regula et vita sororum pauperum c. 6, Sbaralea, 
Bullar franc. I, 674). It is plain that Francis calls the life after the manner of 
the Gospel ‘‘penance”’ or “‘penitential life,” for the same reason that St. John 
the Baptist, Christ and the apostles call it thus: Matth. iii, 2; iv, 17; Luke v, 
32; xiii, 5; Acts ii, 38; xi, 18; xvii, 30; Cf. Life of St. Clare by P. Robinson, 
p. I10. 

66. ‘‘Similiter et viri uxorati et mulieres maritate a lege matrimonii discedere 
non valentes, de fratrum salubri consilio se in domibus propriis arctiori poeni- 
tentiz committebant.” Tres Soc.n. 60. ‘‘Nam predicationis ipsius [sc. Fran- 
cisci] fervore quam plurimi secundum formam a Dei viro acceptam novis se 
pcenitentie legibus vinciebant, quorum vivendi modum idem Christi famulus 
Ordinem fratrum de poenitentia nominari decrevit.” S. Bonav.c. 4,n.6. The 
secretary of Bonaventure, Fr. Bernard of Bessa (Liber de laudibus b. Francisci, 
c. 7, ed. P. Hilarin a Lucerna, 75 sq., Analecta franc. III, 686 sq.), gives inter- 
esting information regarding the Third Order. Regarding its origin and its 
first rule cf. W. Götz, Die Regel des Tertiarierordens, in: Zeitschrift fiir Kirchen- 
geschichte XXIII (1902) 97-107; P. Mandonnet, O. P., Les Regles ei le Gouverne- 
ment de l’Ordo de Penitentia au XIIIe siécle, Paris, 1902, in: Opuscules de critique 
historique I (1903) 143-250; K. Müller, zur Geschichte des Bussbrüderordens, in: 
Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte XXIII (1902), 496-524; Sabatier, Regula antiqua 
fratrum et sororum de Penitentia seu Tertii Ordinis sancti Francisci, in: Opusc. 
de critique hist. 1, (1903), 1-30; H. Böhmer, Analekten XXXI-XXXV; P. Anas- 
tasius van den Wyngaert O. F. M., De Tertio Ordine s. Francisci iuxta M arianum 


42) THE TD BAS OHS Dunkin © as 


Florentinum, in: Archiv. franc. histor. XIII (1920), 3-77; Cuthbert, Life of St. 
Francis, p. 271-290. 

67. The opinion maintained by Rénan, Voigt, K. Miiller, Sabatier and P. 
Mandonnet, that Francis did not originally intend to establish a Religious 
. Order, but merely a fraternity which was to be open to all, (cf. Felder, Geschichte 

der wissensch. Studien im Franziskanerorden, Freiburg, 1904, p. 13, note 1), 
has to-day been entirely abandoned. This opinion, however, was based on a 
very correct conception insofar as Francis did not wish his ideals to be restricted 
to a monastic Order, but to permeate all classes of society and to “‘evangelize’”’ 
them. The Church has at all times up to the present day (cf. Encycl. Bened. 
XV “Sacra propediem”’ of January 6, 1921, Acta Ap. Sedis XIII, 1921, 33-41) 
emphasized this world-embracing purpose of the Franciscan Order. 

68. Basil., Epist. 295; Cassian, Collat. 21, 5; 21, 33; August. c. Faust. 5, 9; 
Ep. 220, 12; In Ps. 132, 9; Sermo 356, 1; Chrysost., Act. A post. homil. 11, 3. 

69. Ruperti Tuitiensis, De vita vere apostolica, especially lib. 4, Migne Patrol. 
lat. 170, 643, sq.; S. Bernard. Sermones de diversis 22, 2; 27, 3; 37, 7, Migne 
183, 595. 613. 642. 

7o. Although monasteries and monastic institutions were numerous in that 
period, there existed in fact but two rules and two religious families. The monks 
strictly so-called (Benedictines, Cistercians or Bernardines, Carthusians and 
others), observed the rule of St. Benedict since the seventh century; the con- 
gregations of Hermits and Clerics Regular adopted the rule taken from the writ- 
ings of the great Bishop of Hippo during the twelfth century, and for that 
reason were known as Augustinian Hermits and Augustinian Clerics Regular. 

71. Spec. perf. c. 68. Cf. Thom. Cel. I, n. 32-33. 

72. Thom. Cel. II, n. 150; Bern. a Bessa, Lib. de laud. c. 5; Spec. perf. c. 43. 
Similarly the tradition of the Preachers, Gerard of Fracheto, Vite fratrum, ed. 
Reichert, Lovanii 1896, Io sq. 

73. From first to last he was firmly convinced that Jesus Christ Himself had 
revealed the rule to him: Testam. S. Franc.; Thom. Cel. II, n. 15; Anon. Perus. 
c. 10; Tres Soc. n. 29; S. Bonav. c. 4, n. 11; Spec. perf. c. 68; Angelus de 
Clareno, Expos. Reg., Verba S. Franc. c. 5. 

74. ‘De patientia et paupertate servanda sermonem protraxit, ceteris insti- 
tutis sanctum evangelium anteponens.” Thom. Cel. II, n. 216. 75. Thom. 
Cel. I, n. 7. 84. 

76. Tres Soc. n. 17. Similarly Bernard a Bessa, c. 1, 5: “Relictis denique 
omnibus Christi vestigia devote secutus, veterem Apostolorum vitam redivivis 
actibus innovavit, suzque religionis domum non super arenam temporalium, 
sed super petram Christi in paupertatis evangelice perfectione fundavit.” 

77. Walteri Gisburnensis, Chronica de gestis regum Anglia, ed. Monumenta 
Germania historica SS. t. XXVIII, 631. 

78. Iacobi Vitriacensis de b. Francisco eiusque societate testimonia, Böhmer 98. 
1IoI sq. 105. These testimonials are found in two letters of Jacques de Vitry 
dated 1216 and 1220 respectively, also in his Historia orientalis lib. II, c. 32. 

79. Humbertus de Romanis, De eruditione predicatorum lib. 2, c. 36, Maxima 
Bibliotheca Patrum, t. XXV, p. 468. 

80. Luke vi, 30. 81. Tres Soc. n. 44; Thom. Cel.I,n.17. 82. Matth. v, 4o. 

83. Tres Soc. c. 10, ed. Amoni, Romz 1880, p. 62. This passage is not found 
in the edition of Faloci-Pulignani. 84. Luke x, 8. 

85. Reg. II, c. 3, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 31, Lemmens 67. 86. Matth.x, ı2. 87. 
Reg. II, loc. cit. 

88. Thom. Cel. I, n. 23; S. Bonav. c.3,n. 2. 89. Testam. Opusc. ed. Böhmer 
38, Lemmens 8o. 

90. Bro. Leo testifies in a note written by himself and found in a breviary he 
had received from Francis and which is still preserved in the Basilica of St. 
Clare at Assisi, that to his dying day the Saint had the gospel of the day read 
to himself whenever he was unable to attend Mass: Sabatier, Spec. perf. 175, 
note 2. Shortly before his death he asked the Gospel book to be brought and the 


NOR E'S 443 


sublime passage to be read in which the Saviour takes leave of His disciples 
before the passion (John xiii, f.): Thom. Cel. I, n. 110. 
gt. “Non enim fuerat evangelii surdus auditor, sed laudabili memorize, quod 
ok poe cuncta commendans, ad litteram diligenter implere curabat.” Thom. 
el. I, n. 22. 


CHAPTER II 


1. 2 Tim. ii, 3. 2. Ep. 22, 30; Migne 22, 416. 3. De opere monachorum c. 
28; Migne 40, 575. 

4. “Ad te ergo nunc mihi sermo dirigitur, quisquis abrenuntians propriis 
voluntatibus Domino Christo, vero regi, militaturus obedientie fortissima 
atque preclara arma sumis.” S. Benedicti Regula, Prolog. 

5. Cf. Ducange-Carpenterius, Glossarium medie et infime latinitatis, s. v. 
The word is also used in this sense in the Franciscan sources and is thus applied 
to Francis himself. Thus, the Three Companions relate that Francis was not 
numbered among the common soldiers during his captivity at Perugia, but 
among the ‘‘milites,” on account of his “‘nobility of manner.” Tres Soc. n. 4. 
Similarly Tres Soc. n. 5; Thom. Cel. I, n. 4; II, n. 77; Tract. de mirac. n. 41. 
The following passage from Celano regarding St. Clare is also significant: ‘Pater 
eius miles, et tota ex utroque parente progenies militaris.” (Vita S. Clare c. 1, 
ed. Acta SS., Augustit. IT, 755. Cf. P. Robinson, Life of St. Clare, p. 6, note 89). 

6. Rolandslied des Pfaffen Konrad, 5159 f. 5169. The same motif underlies 
the original form of the Normanic Chanson de Roland, as also the Carlovingian 
Epics and the Legend of the Grail (Parsifal). Cf. Fr. Weiss, O. P., Die Entwick- 
lung des christlichen Rittertums, Studien über die Rolandssage, in Histor. Jahrbuch 
der Gorresgesellschaft I, (1880), 107-140. 7. Rolandslied, 5820 ff. 

8. This rule was composed with the co-operation of St. Bernard at the Synod 
of Troyes in 1128. Cf. G. Schnürer, Die ursprüngliche Templerregel, Freiburg 
i. B. 1903, 95-128. 

9. “Prefatio Regule Commilitonum Christi. . . Hortamur itaque vos, qui 
usque nunc miliciam secularem, in qua Christus non fuit causa, sed solo humano 
favore amplexi estis. . . Ante omnia autem, quicumque es, o Christi miles. . . 
inter militares, qui pro Christo animas suas dederunt, sortem obtinere mere- 
beris.” Schnürer, loc. cit. 130; Holstenius, Codex Regularum II, 431. 

10. Cf. Schnürer, Franz von Assisi (München, 1907), 14 sq.; Jorgensen, Der 
hl. Franz von Assisi, 136. 11. Tres Soc. n. 5. 

12. “‘Tentat proinde Franciscus adhuc divinam fugere manum, et paternz 
correctionis paulisper oblitus, arridentibus sibi prosperis, cogitat qu& sunt mundi, 
ac ignorans consilium Dei, de gloria seculi et vanitate facturum adhuc maxima 
se promittit.” Thom. Cel. I,n. 4. 13. Anon. Perus.n. 5. 

14. ‘‘Franciscus, quia levis animo erat et non modicum audax, ad eundum 
conspirat cum illo, generis nobilitate impar, sed magnanimitate superior, pau- 
perior divitiis, sed profusior largitate.” Thom. Cel. I, n. 4. 

15. Thom. Cel. I, n. 4-5; Tres Soc.n. 5. 16. Thom. Cel. IT, n. 6; Tres Soc. 
n.6. 17. Thom. Cel. ibid. 

18. Kluber, Das Ritterwesen des Mittelalters nach seiner politischen und mili- 
tarischen Verfassung, Nürnberg 1786, p. 417. 19. Thom. Cel. I, n. 10 sq.; 
Tres Soc. n. 17. 

20. “At ipse, quia novus Christi athleta erat, cum audiret persequentium 
minas ac eorum presentiret adventum, dare locum ire volens, in quandam 
occultam caveam, quam ad hoc ipsemet paraverat, se mergebat.” Thom. Cel. 
T. nw to. #21. Lhd init. 

22. ‘Christi miles fortissimus minas diaboli vilipendens orabat, ut Deus 
dirigeret viam suam.” Tres Soc.n.12. 23. Thom. Cel. II, n. 127. 

24. Testam., ed. Böhmer 36, Lemmens 77. 25. Ibid. 26. S. Bonav. Leg. c. 
1,n.5. 27. Ibid. Also Thom. Cel. I,n. 7; Tres Soc. c. ır. 28. Thom. Cel. I, 
n. 21; Tres Soc. n. 21-24. 29. S. Bonav.c. 2, n.ı.8. 30. Thom. Cel. I, n. 


DIN DEETDEABS OBSST BRANIGTS 


ss. 31. Thom. Cel. I, n. 55; II, n. 32.) S."Bonav. c. 14,0. 1; Thom. Cel!T;n. 
103. 33. Vita Fr. Agidit p. 75. 

34. Wadding, Annales, ad an. 1210, n. 3. Wadding borrowed this anecdote 
from: Actus b. Francisci in valle Reatina. Cf. Act. SS. Oct. t. II, p. 589. A 
separate edition of the Actus was published by F. Pennacchi (Foligno, rorr). 
35. Spec. perf. c. 4. 

36. Ibid. c. 72. We call attention to the historically interesting phenomenon 
that Francis was so completely charmed by the two decidedly Christian hero 
legends which dominated the Middle Ages from the twelfth century on. The 
first is the Legend of Charlemagne, in which the heroes are Charles and his 
twelve Paladins, principally Roland and Olivier. It found its fullest expression 
in the Rolandslied (between 1127 and 1139), and previously in the Normanic 
Chanson de Roland (about 1066). The second is the Legend of the Holy Grail, 
the most splendid form of which is found in the French Parceval (about 1175), 
and in the German Parzival by Wolfram von Eschenbach (beginning of the 
thirteenth century). Francis clearly refers to the Chanson de Roland and to 
Parceval. These romantic tales of chivalry were already sung throughout Italy 
in the twelfth century by the provengal ‘‘jongleurs.” Cf. Gasparri, Italien. 
Literat. I, (1885), 112 ff. 

37. Wolfram von Eschenbach, Parzival IX, 888-890. Cf. Tristan V, 5027- 
5028; Rolandslied, 1975-1977. 

38. Chanson de Roland, 1820 ff., 3338 ff., 3831 f., 3964 ff.; Rolandslied, 6114 ff. 
9000 ff. 39. Rolandslied, 2378 ff.; 2398 f. 40. Matth. x, 34. 38. 41. 1. Pet. 
ii, 21. 42. John viü, 12. 43. John xiii, 15. 44. Rom. viii, 29. 45. Gal. ii, 20. 

46. Regule antiquissime fragmenta, Bohmer, Analekten 88; Kybal, Die 
Ordensregeln des hl. Franz von Assist, 11. 

47. Regula I, c. 22, 23. Opusc. ed. Bohmer 22 sq., Lemmens 56, 60. 

48. Epist. ad Capit. Generale, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 57 sq., Lemmens 100. 

49. Verba admonitionis, c. 6 Opusc. ed. Böhmer 44, Lemmens 9. sq. 

50. Ultima voluntas, quam scripsit sororibus S. Clare, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 35. 

51. Thom. Cel. I, n. 84. 52. J. Görres, Der hl. Franziskus von Assisi, ein 
Troubadour, in: Katholik XX, (1826); Separatausgabe: Strassburg, Le Roux 
1828, 50. 

53. “‘Existimo autem beatum Franciscum speculum quoddam sanctissimum 
dominice sanctitatis et imaginem perfectionis ipsius.” Thom. Cel. II, n. 26. 

54. S. Bonav. c. 13, n. 2. 55. Tres Soc. n. 68. 56. Epist. ad Capit. Gener., 
Opusc. ed. Böhmer 57. 57. Thom. Cel. I, n. 115. 

58. Bohmer, 71, places this Oratio ‘‘Absorbeat,” the authenticity of which 
rests on the authority of Ubertino di Cassale (1305), among the ‘‘ Dubia.”’ 

59. Thom. Cel. I, n. 84. 60. Thom. Cel. II, n. 199. 61. Ibid. 62. Spec. 
perf.c. 114; Thom. Cel. II, n. 200. 63. Thom. Cel. ibid. 64. Spec. perf. ibid. 
65. Thom. Cel. I, n. 84. sq. 66. Ibid. n. 86. 

67. ‘‘Totum viri Dei studium, tam publicum quam privatum, circa crucem 
Domini versabatur; et a principio temporis, quo Crucifixo coeperat militare, 
diversa circa eum crucis mysteria prefulserunt.” Tract de. mirac. n. 2. CE. 
S. Bonav. Leg., de mirac. ı,n. 2. 68. S. Bonav. c. 1, n. 5. 

69. Thom. Cel. II, n. ro sq. Cf. idem, Tract. de mirac. n. 2; Tres Soc. n. 14; 
S. Bon. Leg. c. 2,n.1. 70. Tres Soc. n. 14; Spec. perf. c.92. Cf. Thom. Cel. 
II,n. ır. 71. Thom. Cel., Tract. de mirac. n. 2. 

72. ‘“Familiare sibi signum tau, pre ceteris signis, quo solo et missivas car- 
tulas consignabat et cellarum parietes ubilibet depingebat.” Jbid.n.3. ‘Hoc 
signo sanctus Franciscus suas consignabat litteras, quoties caritatis causa scrip- 
tum aliquod dirigebat.”” S. Bonav., Leg., de mirac. 10, n. 7. 

73. “‘Nonne mos erat et primis filiis pia sanctione statutum, ut ubicumque 
crucis similitudinem cernerent, honorem ei debite reverentiz consecrarent?”’ 
Thom. Cel. hid. 74. Thom. Cel. ibid. 75. Ibid. 76. Ibid. Cf. Actus c. 1, n. 
42.177. Actus ¢. 38; 0.8.78. Actus haynes 790. Thom: Cel Tangy? 

80. Francis thus imitated the provencal troubadours, with whose songs and 
customs he was well acquainted. Cf. Görres, loc. cit. 


NOTES 448 


81. Thom. Cel. II, n. 127. Cf. Spec. perf. c. 93. 82. Fioretti, 3a Considera- 
zione delle Sante Istimmate. 

83. Thom. Cel. I, n. 93-06; Tract. de mirac.n. 4; Tres Soc. n. 17; S. Bonav. 
c. 13, n. 3; Actus c. 9; Fioretti, ibid. These records describing the details of the 
stigmatization, evidently rest on the testimony of the one witness of the won- 
drous event, Brother Leo. The narrative as given by the Three Companions, 
of whom Leo was one, comes from the latter himself. Celano and Bonaventure 
received their information from the living companions of St. Francis, in this 
case also from Brother Leo. The latter took great pleasure in relating the epi- 
sode to the younger generation of Brothers, during whose times the Fioretti 
originated, as Eccleston expressly states. Cf. Eccleston, ed. Brewer, Monu- 
menta franc. I, 51; Analecta franc. I, 245; Little-93; Cuthbert, Chronicle of 
Eccleston 205. For Brother Leo’s autographic note on the Stigmata of St. 
Francis see Böhmer 69, and P. Michael Bihl, De Stigmatibus S. Franc. Assis., 
Archiv. franc. histor. III, 406 sq. How the comprehensive report of Brother 
Leo reached Brother Hugolinus, the author of the Actus b. Francisci, the latter 
relates himself: ‘“Hanc historiam (of the stigmatization as given in the Actus- 
Fioretti) habuit frater Iacobus de Massa ab ore fratris Leonis et frater Hugo- 
linus de Monte S. Marie ab ore dicti fratris Iacobi, et ego, qui scripsi, ab ore 
fratris Hugolini viri per omnia fide digni. Ad laudem Dei.” Actus c. 9, n. 71, 
ed. Sabatier 39. As the reader is aware, we are interested only in the circum- 
stances of the stigmatization. Regarding the fact itself, Cf. our treatment of 
the subject in the new edition of P. Bernard Christen, Leben des hl. Franziskus 
von Assisi, Innsbruck, 1922, 380-390, and the article: Trois témoignages inconnus 
sur les stigmates de S. Francois, in: Etudes franc. t. XXXIV (1922), 121-125. 
Cf. also F. Pennacchi, Saggio del processo per la canonizazione di San Francesco, 
in: Miscell. francescana, vol. XV (1914), 129-137. In this study, which has 
not as yet received the attention it deserves, Professor Pennacchi publishes a 
notarial document dated 1226, in which a number of persons—not members of 
the Order—testify to having seen the Stigmata during the life and after the death 
of the Saint. An exact description of the Stigmata according to these witnesses 
is appended, completely coinciding with that of Celano I, n. gs. 

84. Thom. Cel., Tract. de mirac.n. 2. 85. Thom. Cel. I, n. 112, 86. Thom. 
Cel. I, n. 97. 

87. Thom. Cel. I, n. 98. 99. 102. 105. 108; II, n. 44. 64. 126. 166; Tract. de 
mirac. n. 14. 88. Thom. Cel. I, n. 105. 107. 89. S. Bonav. c. 14, n. 2. 90. 
thid. n. 107. 

o1. ‘‘O martyr et martyr, qui ridens et gaudens libentissime tolerabat, quod 
erat omnibus acerbissimum et gravissimum intueri! Revera nullum in eo 
remanserat membrum absque nimio passionis dolore, et calore naturali sensim 
amisso, ad extrema quotidie properabat. Stupebant medici, mirabantur fra- 
tres, quomodo spiritus vivere posset in carne sic mortua, cum, consumptis 
carnibus, sola cutis ossibus adhereret.”” Ibid. 92. Tres Soc. n. 15. 

93. ‘‘Voluit certe per omnia Christo crucifixo esse conformis, qui pauper et 
dolens et nudus in cruce pependit. . . . O vere Christianissimum virum, qui 
et vivens Christo viventi et moriens morienti et mortuus mortuo perfecta esse 
studuit imitatione conformis et expressa promeruit similitudine decorari.” S. 
Bonav. c. 14, n. 4. 94. Thom. Cel. I, 95; U, 135-137. 95. Ibid. I, n. 112. 123. 


CHAPTER III 


1. Sabatier, Spec. perf. p. 120. 2. Spec. perf. c. 119. 
3. ‘‘Missam vel unicam non audire cotidie, si vacaret. . .”’ In the Friary he 
could hear but one Mass according to his regulation: ‘‘Moneo preterea et 
exhortor in Domino, ut in locis, in quibus fratres morantur, una tantum Missa 
celebretur in die secundum formam sancte ecclesiz. Si vero plures fuerint in 
loco sacerdotes, sit per amorem caritatis alter contentus audita celebratione 


„ 


446. THE TDEATSTIOISSTRZERIN GES 


alterius sacerdotis.” (Epist. ad Capitulum Gener., Opusc. ed. Böhmer 60, Lem- 
mens 104.) Francis made this regulation in consideration of human unworthi- 
ness, and for fear lest the Friars gradually lose their reverence for the Most 
Blessed Sacrament as a result of daily communion or celebration. In those and 
_ later years there were many learned and pious men who had the same opinion 
as Francis in this regard (Cf. Wadding-De la Haye, S. Francisci Opuscula, I, 
Auguste, Veith 1739, p. 8; Acta SS. t. II, Oct. p. 998 sq.), until the Church 
declared that the daily and worthy celebration of the eucharistic sacrifice was 
more in accord with the wish of the Saviour, than the humble omission of it. 
(Benedict XIV, ‘De sacrificio Misse,” sectio 2, n. 9 sqq.). It is known that 
even St. Bonaventure, the spiritual heir of the Seraphic Patriarch, remained 
away from the altar for days, because ‘‘he deemed himself unworthy to receive 
holy communion” (Catalogus Sanctorum Fratrum Minorum, edited by Fr. L. 
Lemmens, O. F. M., Rome 1902, 27). On the other hand, the same St. Bona- 
venture reprimands the priests ‘‘who not from respect, but through negligence 
omit the celebration, because he thereby, as far as is in him, deprives the Most 
Holy Trinity of honor, the angels of joy, the sinners of pardon, the just of grace, 
the poor souls of comfort, the Church of aid, himself of the remedy against his 
ad and daily faults” (De preparatione ad Missam c. 1, n. 9, Opera VIII, 
102 

. “Erat enim frater ille [Benedictus de Pirato] sacerdos sanctus et discretus, 
oat "beato Francisco celebrabat aliquando, ubi iacebat infirmus, quia semper 
quum poterat volebat habere vel audire missam quantumcumque esset infirmus.” 
Spec. perf. c. 87. 5. Sabatier, Spec. perf. p. 175, note 2. 

6. Thom. Cel. II, n. 201. 7. Leg.c.9,n.2. 8. Thom. Cel. II, n. 201. 9. At 
the Pentecost Chapter of 1217. 10. Spec. perf. c. 65. 11. Thom. Cel. II, n 
201. 12. Tres Soc. n. 8; Thom. Cel. II, n. 8. 13. Tres. Soc. c. 3; Thom. Cel. 
IT, n. 8. 

14. Thom. Cel. II, n. 201; Spec. perf. c. 65. One of these baking irons is still 
preserved in the monastery at Greccio. Cf. J. Jorgensen, Das Pilgerbuch aus 
dem franziskanischen Italien, Kempten, 1905, 94 f. 100. 15. Spec. perf. c. 56. 
57. 16. Tres Soc. n. 21-24; Thom. Cel.I,n.18. 17. S. Bonav.c.2,n.7. 18. 
Thom. Cel. J, n. 21; S. Bonav. c. 2,n.8. 109. Wadding, Annal. ad a. 1213 n. 17. 

20. The proofs in: Lud. Lipsin, Compendiosa historia vite S. P. Francisct, 
Assisii 1756, also Faloci-Pulignani, in: Miscellanea francescana Vol. II, 33-37. 

21. Anecdotes historiques d’Etienne de Bourbon, éd. Lecoy de la Marche, 
Paris 1877, n: 316, p. 264 S.;.n. 347, DP. 304 8. 22.) Tres S0C.n.50. 23. Ires Soc. 
n. 57; Thom. Cel. II,.n. 201. 

24. Verba admonitionis c. 26, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 48 sq., Lemmens 18. 

25. Testamentum, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 36 sq., Lemmens 78 sq. 

26. Barth. de Pisa, Conform. ı. I, fructus XII, pars 2, ed. Anal. franc. IV, 
Pp. 595-598. 27. Böhmer XXIX. 

28. Epistola quam misit omnibus fidelibus; Epist. ad Capit. generale; Epist. 
ad omnes clericos; Epist. ad universos custodes; Epist. ad populorum rectores. 

29. John xiv, 6-9. 30. 1 Tim. vi, 16. 31. John iv, 24. 32. John i, 18. 
33. John vi, 64. 34. Mark xiv, 22. 35. John vi, 55. 36. ı Cor. xi, 29. 37. 
Ps. iv,3. 38. John ix, 35. 39. Wisd. xviii, 15. 40. Matth. xxviii, 20. 

41. Verba admonitionis c. ı, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 40 sq., Lemmens 3-5. 42. 
Hebr. xiii, 8. 43. Ps. cxvili, 21. 44. Ezech. xxxiii, 13. 

45. Epist. ad populorum rectores, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 70 sq., Lemmens 111 sq. 
Text according to Gonzaga, De origine seraphice religionis, Venetiis 1603, 806 sq. 

46. Spec. perf.c. 56. 47. 1 Cor. ii, 14. 

48. De reverentia corporis Domini et de munditia aliaris, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 62 
sq., Lemmens 22 sq. 49. Tres Soc.n. 57. 50. John vi, 55. 51. Luke xxii, 19. 

52. Regula prima c. 20, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 18, Lemmens 50. 

53. Wadding ad a. 1216,n. 11; ada. 1219, n. 38-80. 54. COL. 1, 20, DSH. EC 
lii, 22. 56. Luke xxii, 19. 57. 1 Cor. xi, 27. 58. Hebr. x, 28. 59. Hebr. x, 
20. 00. 1X. Cor. xi,°20..- 61. fers xivili, 10.2 62. Mal at 2.7 63. geretrirrz 
64. Lev. xi, 44. 65. Ps. lxi, 9. 66. x Pet. v, 6. 


NOTES 447 


67. Epist. ad Capitulum Generale, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 59 sq., Lemmens 100-- 
103. Ubertino di Casale, Arbor Vite lib. 5, c. 7, remarks that Francis wrote 
this letter toward the end of his life, after he had withdrawn from the direction 
of the Order. 

68. Epist. ad universos custodes, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 63 sq., Lemmens 113-115. 
69. Spec. perf. c. 65. 

70. Regarding these abuses cf. Anonymus of Passau: De occasione errorum 
hereticorum, in: Preger, Beiträge zur Geschichte der Waldensier im Mittelalter, 
in den Abhandlungen der Kgl. Bayrischen Akademie der Wissenschaften 3, Kl., 
13. Bd., 1. Abt., Miinchen 1875, 64 (242) ff. This excellent priest and inquisitor 
severely rebukes those who do not renew consecrated hosts in time, so that they 
swarm with worms; who frequently let the body and blood of the Lord fall to 
the ground; who preserve the Most Blessed Sacrament in their room or in a 
tree of the garden; who, while visiting the sick, hang the Holy Eucharist up in 
a room and go to the tavern; who administer the Sacrament to public sinners 
and refuse it to the worthy; who celebrate Mass while living in notorious sin; 
who use adulterated wine for the Sacrifice, pour more water than wine into the 
chalice, and celebrate again after consuming the ablution; who read several 
Masses on one day without reason; who protract the Mass unduly by exces- 
sively long and confused singing; who establish taverns in the churches and 
render unseemly plays therein. In these words the Anonymus of Passau sums 
up the abuses, which were constantly censured by the Popes and the Councils. 

71. 8. Clare Vita c. 4, n. 28, ed. Act. SS., Augusti t. IT, p. 760. 

72. Catalogus Gen. Ministr., ed. P. Hilarinus 95; Bernard of Bessa adds dole- 
fully: ‘‘Nowadays [about 1277] they suspend the Eucharist above the altar 
so that frequently, when the faithful are assembled, it cannot be reached, because 
the cord by which it is fastened, becomes obstructed or damaged and breaks, 
so that the body of Christ falls to the ground.” 

73. Cf. P. Hilaire de Paris, St. Antoine de Padoue. La Légende primitive et 
autres pieces historiques, Montreuil-sur-mer 1890, 107 f. 

74. It is significant how frequently Berthold of Regensburg treats of the 
Eucharist in his sermons, and how he has appropriated the very conception of 
the Sacrament of the Altar which we have found in St. Francis. Cf. Franz 
Göbel, Die Missions predigten des Franziskaners Berthold von Regensburg, 3. Aufl., 
Regensburg 1873, 181 f. 329-332. 493-500. Likewise in the Latin sermons, e.g. 
in Sermo VI of Rusticanus de tempore: ‘De honorificentia Christi sive Corporis 
Christi, et quomodo gravatur Christus contra illos, qui eum non honorant.” 

75. Cf. the beautiful sections on the Most Holy Sacrament in Alexander 
Alensis, Summa IV pars, q. 11 sq., Venetiis apud Franciscum Franciscium, Vol. 
IV, p. 122b-228c; S. Bonaventura, Comment. in ib. IV Sent. dist. 8-13, Opera 
t. IV, p. 177-313; De preparatione ad Missam, Opera t. VIII, 98-106; Duns 
Scotus, Quest. in lib. IV Sent., Opera, Parisiis, 1894, t. XVIII and XXIV. 

76. Declared as such by Leo XIII, Bull “Providentissimus Deus,” Nov. 
28, 1807. 

77. Analecta Ord. Min. Cap. t. XIII, Rome 1897, 178-184; Bullarium O. M. 
Cap., ed. a P. Michaele a Tugio, t. I, Rome 1740, 54. 63. 98. 109. 134 Sq. 


CHAPTER IV 


. Tres Soc. n. 8; Thom. Cel. II, n. 8. 2. Thom. Cel. I, n. 8 sq. 18. 

3. “, .. usque ad inferiorem gradum omnibus debitum honorem impendens, 
Nam apostolicam sumpturus legationem, fideque catholica integer totus, erga 
ministros et ministeria Dei reverentia plenus ab initio fuit.” Thom. Cel. II, n. 8. 

4. “‘Venerabatur sacerdotes, et omnem ecclesiasticum ordinem nimio amplex- 
abatur affectu.” Thom. Cel. I, n. 62. 

5. Iulian. a Spira, Vita S. Fr.n. 28. 6. Anon. Perus. n. 37; Tres Soc. n. 57. 
y. Spec. perf.c. 87. 8. Iulian. a Spiran. 27. 9. Tres Soc. n. 59. 


448 TEHETDEDBSTOTSSITSEERSAEN Giles 


ro. “Fratres quoque, tunc sacerdotes Ordinis non habentes, confitebantur 
secularibus sacerdotibus, indifferenter bonis et malis, nec peccatum in aliquo 
considerantes.’’ Julian. a Spira n. 27. 

11. Bern. a Bessa c. 2; Thom. Cel. I, n. 46. 

12. Thom. Cel. I, n. 46; Leo, Vita Fr. Agidii p. 79; Bern. a Bessa c. 2. 

13. Thom. Cel. IT, n. 146; Bern. a Bessa c. 5; Spec. perf. c. 53. 

14. Tres Soc. n. 19 sq.; Thom. Cel. I, n. 14 sq.; II, n.12. 15. Thom. Cel. I, 
n..324 $16. Thom. Cel--LI, n. 100% 17... LhomaCel (Tins 268° 11 Four 
Thom. Cel. II, n. 220. 19. Ibid. I, n. 75. 

20. Regula bullata c. 9, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 33, Lemmens 71. 

21. Thom. Cel. II, n. 147. 22. Spec. perf. c. 50. 23. Cf. e. g. Iord. a Iano 
n. 22. 24 

Bull “Cum dilecti,” issued by Honorius III, dated June 11, 1219, i 
EI Bullar. franc. 1, p. 2,n. 2, 

25. Testam., Opusc. ed. Böhmer 38, Lemmens 80. 26. Testam., ibid. 27. 
Spec. perf. c. 10. 28. Ibid. 

29. ‘‘Frater Franciscus promittit obedientiam et reverentiam domino Inno- 
centio pap& et eius successoribus” (Müller, Versuch einer Rekonstruktion der 
ältesten Regel von 1200, in: Die Anfänge des Minoritenordens. Freiburg i. Br. 
1885, 185). In the final rule of 1223 Francis repeats this vow to “the Lord Pope 
Honorius and his canonically elected successors and to the Roman Church.” 
Regula bull. c. 1, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 29, Lemmens 63. 30. Tres Soc. n. 46. 

31. Tres Soc. n. 46-51; Thom. Cel. I, 32 sq.; II, 16, sq.; S. Bonav. c. 3 n. 
8 sqq.; Anon. Perus. n. 31-36. 

32. Anon. Perus. n. 36; Tres Soc. n. 52; Thom. Cel. II, n. 17. 

33. ‘‘Paucis vero diebus morantes cum ipso, ita eum edificaverunt sanctis 
sermonibus et exemplis, quod videns in opere fulgere quod de ipsis audierat, 
recommendavit se eorum orationibus humiliter et devote, et. petivit etiam de 
gratia speciali, quod volebat ex tunc sicut unus de fratribus reputari.” Tres 
Soc. n. 48. 

34. “Venerabilis autem Pater Iohannes de Sancto Paulo cardinalis, qui b. 
Francisco consilium et protectionem frequenter impendebat, vitam et actus b. 
Francisci et omnium fratrum eius omnibus aliis cardinalibus commendabat. 
His auditis commota sunt viscera eorum ad diligendos fratres et unusquisque 
desiderabat ex fratribus in sua curia habere, non pro servitio aliquo recipiendo 
ab eis, sed propter devotionem et amorem, quem habebant plurimum erga fra- 
tres.” Anonym. Perus.n. 42; Tres Soc. n. 61. 

Be Pt, ut b. Franciscum et eius fratres intime diligeret, protegeret 
et foveret; qui revera ferventissime se habuit circa eos, ac si esset omnium pater. 
Immo plus quam patris carnalis dilectio ad carnales filios se extendat, amor 
huiusmodi spiritualiter efferbuit ad Virum Dei cum suis fratribus diligendum 
in Domino et fovendum.” Tres Soc. n. 61; Anonym. Perus. n. 43. 

36. Thom. Cel.I,n. 74. For the date cf. Sabatier, Spec. perf. p. 122, note 2. 

37. Tres Soc.n. 61. 38. Thom. Cel. IT, n. 23 sq.; Tres Soc. n. 63. 39. Iord. 
a Iano n. 11-14. 40. Iord.aIanon. 14. Cf. Tres Soc. n. 64 sq. 41. Thom. 
Cel. I, n. 74. 

42. Bull “Mira circa nos,” dated July 19, 1228, Sbaralea, Bullar. franc. I, p. 
42) n. 28. 

43. Bull “Quo elongati,” dated Sept. 28, 1230, ibid. p. 68, n. 56. 

44. 346 documents in all are found issued by Gregory IX from 1227-1240 in 
the interests of the Order, in Sbaralea, ibid. 

45. Iord. aIano n. 63. 46. Regula II, c. 12, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 35, Lem- 
mens 74. 47. Thom. Cel. I, n. 62. 48. Opusc. ed. Böhmer 63, Lemmens 23. 

49. ‘‘Admonebat sollicite fratres, ut sanctum evangelium et regulam promi- 
serant, firmiter observarent, et ut maxime circa divina officia et ecclesiasticas 
ordinationes essent devoti et reverentes.” Tres Soc. n. 57. 

50. Opusc. ed. Böhmer 1-26, Lemmens 24-62. 

51. ‘‘Postea non licebit ei ad aliam religionem accedere neque extra obedien- 


NODES 449 


tiam evagari iuxta mandatum domini pape.” Regula I, c. 2. This decree of 
the Pope was issued Sept. 22, 1220, cf. Bull ‘‘Cum secundum consilium,” Sbara- 
lea, Bullar. franc. I, p. 6. 

s2. “‘Nullus recipiatur contra formam et institutionem sancte ecclesiz.” 
Regula I, ibid. 

53. Ibid. c.3. While the first rule was still in use, probably about 1215, Inno- 
cent III arranged a special Office, called ‘‘Breviarium”’ on account of its brevity, 
for use at the Roman church, that is, for the chapel at the Roman Curia. Defer- 
ence for the Church as well as practical reasons led Francis to adopt this Office 
in the final Rule (Regula bull. c. 3), and it soon came into general use. Cf. 
Hilarin Felder, Die liturgischen Reimoffizien auf die hhl. Franziskus und Antonius 
gedichtet und komponiert durch Fr. Julian von Speier, Freiburg i. d. Schw. 1901, 
15-21. 

54. Schnürer, Die ursprüngliche Templerregel, Freiburg i. Br. 1903, 135. 

55. “‘Nullus fratrum predicet contra formam et institutionem sanct& roman 
ecclesi@.” Regulal,c.ı7. 56. Ibid.c.19. 57. Ibid.c. 20. 58. Ibid. c. 23. 

59. “According to the final rule, the institution of Francis appears welded 
together as firmly as possible with the Roman Church, and the expressions used 
therein to enjoin the complete submission of the Brothers Minor, simply cannot 
be surpassed.” H. Tilemann, Studien zur Individ. des Franziskus von Assisi, 
Leipzig-Berlin, 1914, 167. 60. Opusc. ed. Böhmer, 36. 39, Lemmens 78. 81. 82. 

61. It is well known that Rénan (Francois d’Assise, in: Nouvelles études 
@historie religieuse, Paris 1884, 243 sq.), Karl von Hase (Franz von Assisi, Leip- 
zig, 1892, 4), H. Thode (Franz von Assisi und die Anfänge der Kunst der Renais- 
sance in Italien, Berlin, 1885, 522, 525 fi.), Paul Sabatier (Vie de S. Francois IX 
f., XXV ff. 116. 288 f., 320 ff., 385 ff., also in his edition of the Spec. perf. var. loc.), 
and Vlastimil Kybal (Die Ordensregeln des hl. Franz von Assisi, Leipzig 1915, 
88-92. 104-106. 153 f.; Uber das Testament des hl. Franz von Assisi, in: Milteil- 
ungen des Instituts für österreichische Geschichtsforschung XXXVI, 312-340) have 
attempted to represent Francis as the enemy of the Church, and the Church as 
the enemy of the Franciscan Ideal. They claim that originally and by nature 
Francis was an individualist and had the vocation of becoming in reality a fore- 
runner of Luther; that he for a time bravely struggled against the fetters placed 
on him by the Roman Church, but that, worn out by the hopeless struggle, he 
was finally overcome by the powerful diplomacy of the Church and forced to 
abandon his original ideal. Against these fanciful assertions we simply place 
objective facts as we find them in the relation of Francis to the Church. A po- 
lemic dispute with the above-mentioned writers can be dispensed with all the 
more easily since they have been completely refuted by the non-Catholic his- 
torians Walter Götz (Die ursprünglichen Ideale des hl. Franziskus von Assisi, 
Historische Vierteljahrsschrift VI, 19-50; Die Quellen zur Geschichte des hl. Franz 
von Assisi, Gotha 1904), and H. Tilemann (Studien zur Individualität des Fran- 
ziskus von Assisi, Leipzig 1914, 141-167. 202-210). By means of authentic 
sources, Götz and Tilemann reach the conclusion that Francis was at all times 
filled with deep devotion and loyalty toward the Church; that the Church on 
her part has never and in no wise done violence to his ideals or turned him from 
them; moreover, that his original ideals have in fact never changed, but remained 
the same until the very end of his life. Minor deflections from his original pur- 
pose must be charged to the process of harmonizing theory and practise. 

62. ‘‘Minores fratres . . . apostolice sedi in omnibus obedientes.” Bur- 
chardi Urspergensis Chronicon, ed. Abel-Weiland, Monumenta Germ. histor. 
Scriptores t. XXIII, 376. 

63. Hil. Felder, Die liturg. Reimoffizien auf die hhl. Franz. und Antonius, 107. 

64. Döllinger, Beiträge zur Sektengeschichte des Mittelalters, 1. Teil, München 
1800, 98-241. 

65. S. Hildegardis Epistole, Colonix 1556, 138. 

66. Cesarii Heisterbacensis Dialogus miraculorum 5, 19. 

67. Dr. F. Imle, Ein heiliger Lebenskünstler, Paderborn 1914, 204. 68. Vita 
Sr. Egidii, 106. 


40 THEIDEALSOFST. FRANCIS 


CHAPTER V 


. “Inerat namque iuvenis Francisci precordiis divinitus indita quedam ad 
Res miseratio liberalis, que secum ab infantia crescens, tanta cor ipsius 
benignitate repleverat, ut, iam evangelii non surdus auditor, omni proponeret 
se petenti tribuere (Lc. 6, 30), maxime si divinum allegaret amorem.” S. Bonav. 
Cosh Mid nes Tres Soc. n. 3. 32d TES SOC. Ne 3. Aco. DODAVIG, I; Ten loe 8; 
Tres Soc. n. 7._ 6. Tres Soc.n. 10. 7. Thom. Cel. I, n. 7; Tres Soc. n.73. 

8. ‘*. . . . Cupiebat enim possidere sapientiam, que auro melior, et pruden- 
tiam acquirere, que pretiosior est argento.”” Thom. Cel. I, n. 8 sq.; cf. Tres 
Soc. n. 16. 9. Tres Soc. n. 20; Thom. Cel. I, n. 10-15. 

10. Dante, Divina Commedia, Paradise, Canto XI. Transl. by Henry F. Cary. 

11. Matth. x, 8-10, 12. Thom. Cel. I, n. 16. 21-22; Tres Soc. n. 25; Tord. 
a Iano n. 1-2; ‘S, Bonav. c. 3. 

13. Regarding Peter Catanii cf. Sabatier, Spec. perf. p. 70, note 2. 

14. The full narrative in Tres Soc. n. 27-29; condensed Thom. Cel. I, n. 24. 

15. Tres. Soc. n. 33. 40. 16. Tres. Soc. n. 46; Thom. Cel. I, n. 32. 

17. Testam., Opusc. ed. Böhmer 37, Lemmens 79. 18. Thom. Cel. I, n. 32. 

19. Thom. Cel. I, n. 32-34; Tres Soc. n. 46-53. 

20. ‘*. . . .ut in omnibus regulis suis commendaret potissime paupertatem, 
et omnes fratres sollicite redderet de pecunia evitanda; plures enim regulas 
fecit et eas expertus est, priusquam faceret illam, quam ultimo reliquit fratri- 
bussed TESaS OE. N93 5s 

21. ‘‘Sepe vero de paupertate sermonem faciens, ingerebat fratribus evan- 
gelicum illud: Vulpes foveas. . .” S. Bonav. c. 7, n. 2. 22. Thom. Cel. II, 
n.70. 23. ‘Domina sancta Paupertas,Dominus te salvet!” Opusc. ed. Böhmer 
64, Lemmens 20. 24. Thom. Cel. II, n. 82. 

25. H. J. Schmitz, Der Bettler von Assisi und das Rittertum, die Poesie und 
die Kunst seiner Zeit (Frankfurter Broschüren, N. F. Band 5, Heft 2) p. ro. 

26. Thom. Cel. II, n. 55. 27. Opusc. ed. Böhmer 37 sq., Lemmens 79 sq. 

28. ‘‘Gaudet sanctus et iubilat pre laetitia cordis, quoniam fidem tenuisse 
Dominz Paupertati usque in finem se videt.” Thom. Cel. II, n. 215. 

29. ‘‘De patientia et paupertate servanda sermonem protraxit, c&teris insti- 


tutis sanctum evangelium anteponens.” Ibid. n. 216. “Semper diligant et 
observent Dominam Paupertatem.” Spec. perf.c. 87. 30. Thom. Cel. II, n. 
214-216. 


31. Dante, Divina Commedia, Paradise, Canto XI. 

32. It was written but a few ‘months after St. Francis had died (July, 1227), 
by one of the two Ministers General, either John Parenti, or, more probably, 
John of Parma. Fr. Edouard d’Alencon has published the Latin original, with 
an Italian translation (Sacrum Commercium B. Francisci cum Domina Pauper- 
tate, Rome 1900). Another Italian translation made in the 14th century was 
published by Salv. Minocchi (Le mistiche nozze di San Francesco e Madonna 
Povertä, Firenze 1901). Fr. Ubald d’Alencon has made a French version (Les 
Noces mystiques du bienheureux Francois avec Madame la Pauvreté, Paris, 1913), 
E. von Némethy, a German, (Die mystische Hochzeit des hl. Franziskus mit der 
Frau Armut, Jena 1913), and Montgomery Carmichael an English version (The 
Lady Poverty, London, Murray, 1902). 

33. Testamentum, Opusc. ed Böhmer 37, Lemmens, 79; .Tres Soc. n. 29. 

34. Thus the Knights Templar were designated in the original rule: Luce 
Holstenii Codex Regularum t. II, Auguste Vindelicorum 1759, 431; Schnürer, 
Die ursprüngliche Templerregel, Freiburg i. Br. 1903, 130. 

j 3 5. Regula Militum Hospitalis S. Ioannis Hierosolymitani c. 7 sq., Holstenius 
ibid. p. 446. 

36. S. Bernardi Sermones de diversis 22, 2; 27,3; 37, 7; Migne, Patr. lat. 183, 
596. 613. 642. 

37. De vita vere apostolica lib. I, c. 3. 8; Migne, Patr. lat. 170, 615-616. 

38. Matth. xix, 21. 39. Tres Soc.n. 51. 40. Spec. perf. c. 107. 


NOTES 451 


41. “Inveni virum perfectissimum, qui vult secundum formam sancti evan- 
gelii vivere et evangelicam perfectionem in omnibus observare.” Tres Soc.n. 48. 

42. ‘Domina Clara prima plantula sororum pauperum Sancti Damiani de 
Assisio, emulatrix precipua Sancti Francisci in conservanda perfectione evan- 
gelica.”” Spec. perf. c. 108. 

43. “. . . .eligendo vivere secundum perfectionem sancti evangelü. . .”’ Ex 
Regula sororum sancte Clare, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 35, Lemmens 75. 

44. Ultima voluntas, quam scripsit sororibus sancte Clare, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 
35, Lemmens 75. ‘ 

45. “Vixerunt secundum formam sancti evangelii a Domino illis ostensum.” 
Tres Soc. n. 29. ; ; 

46. ‘“Ipse Altissimus revelavit mihi, quod deberem vivere secundum formam 
sancti evangelii. . .” Testament., Opusc. ed. Böhmer 37, Lemmens 79. 

47. ‘“Sienim Deus peccatoribus donat bona temporalia propter nutriendorum 
filiorum amorem, multo magis viris evangelicis, quibus hac debentur ex merito, 
largietur.”” Tres Soc. n. 51. 

48. ‘‘De patientia et paupertate servanda sermonem protraxit, ceteris insti- 
tutis sanctum evangelium anteponens.”” Thom. Cel. II, n. 216. 

49. Opusc., ed. Lemmens 18. 20 sq., Böhmer: Admonitiones c. 27; Laudes de 
virt. 50. S. Bonav.c.7,n.1. Cf. Thom. Cel. II, n. 200. 51. Thom. Cel. II, n. 82. 

52. Francesco Tresatti, Le poesie spirituali del B. Iacopone da Todi, bro. III, 
Oda 24, Str. 41, 51, 52, Venetia 1617, 351-353. 53. Thom. Cel. II, n. 93. 

54. S. Bonav. c. 7, n. 6. The theological proof that poverty excels among 
the three evangelical counsels, and hence is the basic principle of evangelical 
perfection, is adduced by St. Bonaventure, De perfectione evangelica q. 2, a. I, 
Opera t. V, 127 sqq. 55. Matth. x, 8-10. 56. Cf. p. 7. 

57. Cf. the decrees of the councils of this period, Mansi, Amplissima Collectio 
Conciliorum t. XXII, 224, 792. 819. 

58. ‘‘Omnes enim, a maximo usque ad minimum, avaritie student, diligunt 
munera, retributiones sequuntur, iustificantes impium pro muneribus et iusti 
iustitiam auferentes.” Innocenti III Regestorum lib. 3, 24; Migne, Patr. lat. 
214, 904. 59. Cf. Michael, Geschichte des deutschen Volkes II, 2, 295, 297. 

60. Cf. the decrees of the third and fourth Lateran Councils, and of the Pro- 
vincial Councils of this period, Mansi t. XXII. 

61. ‘‘Quamvis ad abolendum simoniacam pravitatem a predecessoribus nos- 
tris varia emanaverint instituta, usque adeo tamen. . . . morbus ille irrepsit, 
ut adhuc, peccatis exigentibus, nec levi potuerit medicamine nec igni curari.” 
Ibid. lib. 1, 261; Migne, Patr. lat. 214, 220. 

62. Cf. Karl Müller, Die Waldenser und ihre einzelne Gruppen, Gotha 1886, 
SSH J. B. Pierron, Die katholischen Armen, Freiburg i, Br. 1911, 129 ff. 63. 
Cf. p. 56-73. 

64. The ideal love of womanhood as conceived by the Christian knight is 
expressed typically in the Song of Roland and in Parsifal; its erotic form, typi- 
fying a worldly and dissolute knighthood, in the Artussage and in Tristan. 

65. This connubial union of Christ and poverty is described in exquisitely 
poetic form in the allegory “‘Sacrum Commercium,” ed. Fr. Eduardus Aleng., 
p. 10-12; von Némethy, 12-16. Cf. Actus b. Francisci c. 13, 23-27. 66. Dante, 
Div. Commedia, Paradise, Canto XI. 

67. ‘‘Hanc Filio Dei familiarem attendens, iam iamque toto orbe repulsam 
studet charitate perpetua desponsare. Amator ergo factus forme illius, ut 
uxori fortius inhereret. . .” Thom. Cel. II, n. 55. 

68. Ultima voluntas quam scripsit S. Franciscus S. Clare, Opusc. ed Böhmer 
35, Lemmens 76. 69. Cf. e. g. Tres Soc. n. 8. 

70. ‘Sic filium pauperis Dominz legebat in pauperibus cunctis.” Thom. 
Cel. II. n. 83. 

71. “Christi Iesu paupertatem et Matris frequenter cum lacrymis revocabat 
ad mentem.” S. Bonav. c. 7, n. 1. 

72. “. . . inde hanc virtutem regiam esse dicebat, que in rege et regina tam 
prestanter effulsit.” Thom. Cel. II, n. 199; Tres Soc. n. 15; S. Bonav. ibid. 


42 THEIDEALSOFST.FRANCIS 


73. ‘‘Hanc dignitatem regalem, quam pro nobis Dominus Iesus egenus factus 
assumpsit, ut sua nos ditaret inopia ac vere pauperes spiritu regni coelorum 
reges institueret et heredes, nolo relinquere pro feudo divitiarum falsarum vobis 

.ad horam concesso.” S. Bonav.c.7,n.7. 74. Tres Soc. n. 28. 

75. Regula I, c. 9, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 9 sq.; Lemmens 36 sq. 

76. Regula II, c. 6, ed. Böhmer 32, Lemmens 68 sq. 


CHAPTER VI 


ı. St. Dominic indeed resolved from the very beginning to avoid all luxury 
in his appearance as preacher, in order to combat the Albigenses more effectively, 
as his contemporaneous confreres Fr. Jordan (Legend. B. Dominici ed. Quetif- 
Echard, Scriptores Ord. Pred. 1, 5), and Fr. Etienne de Bourbon (Anecdotes 
historiques publiés par Lecoy de la Marche, Paris 1877, 79, n. 83; 213, n. 251) 
record. However, the true ideal of poverty was still strange to Dominic at that 
time. In 1212 and 1213, while he was harboring the project of founding a new 
Order and had already found associates for it, he accepted extensive founda- 
tions from Count de Montfort: ‘‘Necdum enim illa postmodum edita consti- 
tutio servabatur, ut nec recipere possessiones nec receptas iam retinere liceret.” 
(Fr. Jordan ibid. I, 10, n. 21). In 1215 Bishop Fulco of Toulouse donated the 
sixth part of the revenues of the diocese to him (/bid. I, 12, n. 23). Shortly after 
(1216), when Dominic met Francis in Rome, the former resolved to follow the 
Franciscan ideal and renounce the right of possession; this, however, became a 
law only in 1220: “Quapropter ne predicationis, cui summopere debebant 
impendere, impediretur officium, proposuerat ex tunc (1216) terrenas posses- 
siones et reditus prorsus abiicere, quod postmodum in primo capitulo generali 
Bononiz anno Domini MCCXX celebrato affectu pariter et effectu per consti- 
tutionem perpetue fuit executioni mandatum.” (Fr. Constantine of Orvieto, 
Leg. B. Dominici ed. Quetif-Echard, ibid. I, 28 f., n. 18; cf. Jordan ibid. I, 20, 
n. 38). In any case it is beyond doubt that the incentive to this resolution came 
from Francis. Dominic had just applied for the approbation of his Order. He 
was, however, not only forbidden to write a new rule, but a decree was issued 
forbidding the introduction of new rules in general (Fr. Constantine ibid. I, 28 
f., n. 17 ff.). But since on the one hand the old rules did not answer his pur- 
pose, and on the other Francis had counseled against uniting the institution of 
St. Dominic with his own (Thom. Cel. II, n. 150), the latter wished to appro- 
priate at least the original elements of the Franciscan Order, especially poverty 
as Fr. Angelus of Clareno remarks: ‘‘Sanctus vero Dominicus. . . . servatione 
evangelice paupertatis, quam vidit et audivit a S. Francisco et eius sociis, ani- 
matus superaddidit regule S. Augustini paupertatis evangelice altissimam per- 
fectionem: non habere in communi.” (Ehrle, Die Briefsammlung des F. Angelus 
de Clareno, in: Archiv fiir Litteratur- und Kirchengeschichte 1, 559). Dominic did 
not, moreover, regard the repudiation of property as a means of sanctification 
as Francis did, but solely as a help to a more effective exercise of the apostolate. 
Cf. Denifle, Die Konstitutionen des Predigerordens vom Jahre 1228, in: Archiv, 
loc. cit. I, 182 f. Also: Berthold Altauer, Die Armutsidee des hl. Dominikus, in: 
Theologie und Glaube XI (1919), 405-417; Die Beziehungen des hl. Dominikus 
zum hl. Franziskus, in: Franziskanische Studien IX (1922), 1-28. According 
to Altauer, Dominic met Francis after 1218; consequently he would not have 
been influenced directly and personally by Francis in the question of poverty, 
but only indirectly by the Franciscan movement. 

2. “Viri probatissimi et sapientissimi in religionibus . . . sic sua reliquerunt, 
quod communia possederunt.” De paupertate evangelica q. 2, a. 2, Opera V, 
136. A complete compilation of the respective precepts regarding poverty in 
the older rules was made in the ninth century by St. Benedict of Aniane in his 
Concordia Regularum c. 42; Migne, Patrol. lat. 103, 1057 sqq. 

3. Cf. the Rule of the Templars written by St. Bernard at the Council of 


NOTES 453 


LEONE ” 1128 (Schnürer, Die ursprüngliche Templerregel, Freiburg i. Br. 1903, 
bas. 

4. Cf. Fr. Eberhard Hoffmann, S. Ord. Cist., Das Konverseninstitut des Zister- 
zienserordens, Freiburg i. Schw., 1905; on page 27, the ısth chapter of the 
“Exordium parvum,” composed by Abbot St. Stephen in 1120, can be found. 

5. Cf. Karl Müller, Die Waldenser und ihre einzelne Gruppen, Gotha 1886, 7. f. 

6. The Waldenses who returned to the Church, that is the “Catholic Poor 
Men” in France (since 1208), and the ‘‘re- united” Lombards of Italy (since 
1210), retained the principle of absolute poverty after their conversion (cf. J. B. 
Pierron, Die katholischen Armen, Freiburg i. Br. 1911, 173. 176), but had little 
influence and disappeared after a few years. 

7. Tres Soc. n. 35. Bishop Guido himself had several lawsuits of this kind 
with the Crucigeri as well as with the Benedictines of Monte Subasio. Cf. Opera 
Honorii III. ed. Horoy, Medii evi bibliotheca patristica, Series prima, Paris 1879, 
I, 163. 200; Potthast, Regesta Roman. Pontificum, Berol. 1874, n. 7728. 7746. 

8. Thom. Cel. I, n. 33. 9. Tres Soc. n. 51; cf. Thom. Cel. I, n. 32 sq 

1o. “At sanctus Franciscus suasionem eius (Cardinalis Ioannis a S. Paulo) 
humiliter prout poterat, recusabat, non persuasa despiciendo, sed alia pie affect- 
ando altiori desiderio ferebatur.” Thom. Cel. I, n. 33. 

11. Matth. viii, 20; Luke ix, 58. 12. Matth. xix, 21; Mark x, 21; Luke 
XVilil, 22. 13. Luke xiv, 33. 14. Matth. x, 8-10. 15. Luke xii, 33. 

16. Although most Catholic as well as non-Catholic writers emphasize the 
harmony of the Franciscan ideal of poverty with that of the Gospel, Ad. Ott 
asserts (Thomas von Aquin und das Mendikantentum, Freiburg i. Br. 1908, 6 f.), 
that the Franciscan ideal, which demands absolute poverty of the individual 
as well as of the Order as such, must even be regarded as ‘‘ Biblically recorded.” 
This opinion is very ably refuted by Fr. Th. Soiron, O. F. M., Das Armutsideal 
des hl. Franz von Assisi und die Lehre Jesu tiber die Armut, in: Franziskanische 
Studien IV (1917), 1-17. Cf. Fr. Ubald d’Alencon, O. M. Cap., L’äme francis- 
caine 2me éd., Paris 1913, and the various articles by Fr. Antoine de Sérent 
dealing with this work (L’äme franciscaine, in: Archiv. franc. histor. VIII, 448- 
466), and also by Fr. Leone Bracalone, O. F. M. (A proposito di una pubbli- 
casione “‘L’ Anima francescana,” in: Archiv. franc. histor. VIII, 467-481). 

17. Thom. Cel. II, n. 12; Tres Soc. n. 20. 18. Cf. p. 78 f. 19. Thom. Cel. 
II, n.55. 20. Tres Soc. n. 28 sq.; Thom. Cel.I,n. 24. 21. Opusc. ed. Böhmer 
37, Lemmens 79. 22. S. Bonav.c. 7, n. 3; Thom. Cel. II, n. 80. 23. Thom. 
Cel. II, n. 81. 24. Ibid. 25. Spec. perf. c. 57. 26. Regula I, c. 2, Opusc. ed. 
Böhmer 2, Lemmens 26. 

27. ‘‘Szpe etiam, si fratres egerent, potius ad alios recurrere quam ad intrantes 
ordinem docuit, primo quidem propter exemplum, deinde ad vitandam omnem 
turpis commodi BEE Thom. Cel. II, n. 81. 28. Thom. Cel. II, n. 67; S. 
Bonav. c. 7, n. 

29. The Een which distinguished the garb of the novice from that of 
the professed Religious, consisted of a piece of cloth which covered head and 
shoulders. Later on the superiors made use of the authority granted by the 
rule and ordained that novices also could wear the cowl, but with a strip of 
cloth in front, and, in some Provinces, also in back. 

30. Regula II, c. 2, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 30, Lemmens 64. 

31. Regula I, c. 7, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 8, Lemmens 34. 

32. Regula II, c. 6, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 32, Lemmens 68. 

33. Testam., Opusc. ed. Böhmer 38, Lemmens 80. 

34. Et quum ex longa familiaritate, quam idem confessor [B. Fran. 
ciscus] Nobiscum habuit, plenius noverimus intentionem ipsius; et in condendo 
predictam regulam, obtinendo confirmationem ipsius per Sedem Apostolicam 
sibi astiterimus . . . declarari postulastis dubia et obscura Reguls praedicte, 
nec non super quibusdam difhcilibus responderi . . . presertim quum iam 
dixerint aliqui proprietatem mobilium pertinere ad totum Ordinem in com- 
muni...” Gregorii IX Bulla “Quo elongati,” Bullar. franc. I, 68. 

35. ‘‘Dicimus itaque, quod nec in communi nec in speciali debeant proprie- 


454 THE TD EARS Odes TARR ANG ds 


tatem habere: sed utensilium ac librorum, et eorum mobilium, qua licet habere, 
eorum usum habeant: et fratres secundum quod Generalis Minister vel Provin- 
ciales dixerint, iis utantur, salvo locorum et domorum dominio illis, ad quos 
noscitur pertinere.” Jbid. 69. 

36. Salutatio virtutum, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 65, Lemmens 21. 

37. Actus B. Francisci c. 13, n. 22 sq. 38. Thom. Cel. II, n. 216. 

39. A reference to Ps. Ixx, 15: ‘‘Quoniam non cognovi litteraturam, introibo 
in potentias Domini.” 40. S. Bonav. c. 7, n. 2; cf. Thom. Cel. II, n. 194. 

41. Testamentum, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 37, Lemmens 79. 42. Thom. Cel. I, 
n. 39. 

43. They soon after relinquished it in favor of St. Francis and his associates. 
Francis accepted it gratefully, but on the condition that the abbey retain the 
title to it, and that he be allowed to send the monks a basket of fish annually as 
tribute. 

44. “Et fecerunt ibi unam domunculam, in qua aliquando pariter moraren- 
tur.” Tres Soc. c.9. “.. . aliquam parvam et pauperculam domunculam 
ex luto et viminibus constructam, ubi fratres possint quiescere et operari. . .” 
Spec. perf. c. 55. 

45. Formerly every village, and also many farms, had a bake-oven, separated 
from the other buildings. Whenever the oven had been fired during the day, 
the oven itself, or the building in which it stood, retained enough warmth to 
serve as welcome night-quarters for journeymen, soldiers and other homeless 
wayfarers. 

46. ‘Nam, cum sepe in maximis frigoribus necessario carerent hospitio, 
clibanus recolligebat eos, vel certe in cryptis seu speluncis humiliter noctibus 
latitabant.” Thom. Cel. I,n.39. 47. Tres Soc. n. 34, 38 sqq. 

48. ‘Nihil insuper sibi proprium vindicabant, sed libris et aliis collatis, eisdem 
utebantur communiter secundum regulam ab ’apostolis traditam et conserva- 
tam.” Tres Soc. n. 43. 

49. ‘‘Coeperunt cum sancta paupertate ibidem habere commercium.. . 
Thom. Cel. I, n. 34. sq. 

51. “... Nam, ut ait sanctus, citius de tugurio quam de palatio in celum 
ascenditur. . .” 

52. Thom. Cel. I, n. 42-44; Tres Soc. n. 55. 

53. In some of the Provinces the brothers did not set foot before 1219; cf. 
Tord. a Iano, n. 3. 

54. Francis himself undertook a journey to Syria in 1212 to convert the 
Saracens, and to Morocco in 1213 (according to Celano I, n. 55 sq.). In 1219 
he again journeyed to the Orient, as we shall presently see. 

55. Iacobi Vitriacensis Epistola data Ianu a. 1216, Böhmer, Analekten 94; 
Jord. a Iano.n. 16; Tres Soc. n. 57. 56. Tres Soc.n. 59 sq. 

57. lacobi Vitriacensis Historia orientalis lib. 2, c. 32, Böhmer ibid. 102-104. 

58. Vita B. Aigidu c. 3, Act. SS., Aprilis t. ITI, 227, 15. 

59. ‘‘Fratres Minores ex parte sunt iuvenes et pueri. Unde si iuxta etatum 
suarum flexibilitatem sunt mutabiles et proclives, non est contra rerum naturam. 
Ipsi autem iam ad extremam dementiam pervenerunt, quia per civitates et 
oppida et loca solitaria sine discretione vagantur, horribilia et inhumana mar- 
tiria tolerando.” Buoncompagno, Rhetorica antiqua, Schönbach, Beiträge zur 
Erklärung altdeutscher Dichiwerke, II. Stück, S. 68, in: Sitzungsberichte der 
Wiener Akademie, philos.-hist. Klasse, Bd. 145 (1902), Wien 1903. 

60. ‘‘Fizc tamen religio valde periculosa nobis videtur, eo quod non solum 
perfecti, sed etiam iuvenes et imperfecti, qui sub conventuali disciplina aliquo 
tempore artari et probari debuissent, per universum mundum bini et bini divi- 
duntur.”” Jacobi Vitriac. Epistola a. 1220 Mart., Damiate, Böhmer, Analekten 
tor. 61. Iord. a Iano.n. 3-11. 62. Ibid. n. 11-13. 63. Ibid. n. 14-15. 

64. Regarding these changes cf. Karl Müller, Die Anfänge des Minoriten- 
ordens und der Bussbruderschaften, Freiburg i. Br. 1885, 68 ff. 

65. Thom. Cel. II, n. 56. 66. Spec. perf. c. 10. 

67. ‘‘Docebat suos habitacula paupercula facere, ligneas non lapideas, easque 


”) 


so. 


NOTES 455 


vili schemate casellas erigere.” Thom. Cel. II, n. 56; Spec. perf.c. 5.10. 68. 
Spec. perf.c. 11. 69. Determinationes quest. pars. s, q. 6, Opera VIII, 341. 

70. “Volebat, ut fratres non in magna quantitate in locis collocarentur, quia 
sibi difficile videbatur in magna multitudine paupertatem observari.” Spec. 
perf.c. 10. 71. Spec. perf.c.7. 72. Iord. a Ianon. 16. 73. Eccleston coll. 6, 
p. 40. 

74. Eccleston ibid.; Thom. Cel. II, n. 57; Spec. perf.c.7. 75. Spec. perf. c. 
10. 76. Liber de laudibus b. Fr.c. 4, 31. 77. Determinationes quest. ibid. 78. 
Ibid. quest. 15, p. 367. 

79. Thom. Cel. IT, n. 58; S. Bonav. c. 7, n. 2; Spec. perf. c. 6. 

80. Thom. Cell. II, n. 59; Spec. perf. c. 9. 

81. “Nolebat locellum aliquem fratres inhabitare, nisi certus ad quem pro- 
prietas pertineret, constaret patronus. Leges enim peregrinorum in filiis suis 
semper quzsivit, sub alieno videlicet colligi tecto, pacifice pertransire, sitire ad 
patriam.” Thom. Cel. II, n. 59. 82. Cf. p. ıo1 f 

83. ‘‘Docebat fratres, ut pauperum more pauperculas casa erigerent, quas 
non inhabitarent ut proprias, sed sicut peregrini et adven& alienas.”’ S. Bonav. 
ee er 

84. Regarding the first-named Orders no proof is necessary; regarding the 
Clerics Regular (from whom also the Dominicans originated), Fr. Denifle adduces 
numerous proofs in: Archiv für Literatur-und Kirchengeschichte I, 178 f. 

85. The Benedictine Matthew of Paris, who was unfavorable to the Mendi- 
cants, criticizes just this in the Mendicants. The geniune monastic life is rep- 
resented, according to him, only by the Benedictines and Cistercians: ‘Non 
enim vagabantur per civitates et pagos, non erat eis pro claustrali maceria 
oceanus, sed infra muros suos clausi et stabiles conversantes.’’ Matth. Paris., 
Chronica maiora ed. Monum. Germ. hist. Script. XXVIII, 355, lin. 9 sqq. 

86. “‘Cantabiles mihi erant iustificationes tue in loco peregrinationis meae.” 
Ps. cxviii, 54. 87. Iord.alIanon. 43. 88. Cf. p. 120 fl. 

89. “‘Dico ergo, quod fratribus horum concessus est usus, sed vetatur appro- 
priatio. Nam non dicit regula, quod fratres nihil habeant nec aliqua re utantur, 
quod esset insanum; sed, quod nihil sibi approprient.”” De tribus questionibus 
ed. Opera t. VIII, 333. 

go. “Iniungo omnibus fratribus meis tam clericis quam laicis euntibus per 
mundum vel morantibus in locis, quod nullo modo apud se vel apud alium nec 
aliquo modo bestiam aliquam habeant. Nec eis liceat equitare, nisi infirmitate 
vel magna necessitate cogantur.” Regula I, c. 15, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 14, Lem- 
mens 43. In the second rule there is no precept prohibiting the keeping of 
beasts, but there is one forbidding to ride on horseback: Reg. II, c. 3, Böhmer 
31, Lemmens 67. 

91. On this score, riding was also forbidden in the rule of the Dominicans. 
Albert the Great traveled as Provincial and as Bishop always on foot. Brothers 
who failed against this precept were punished with the discipline and fasting 
on bread and water. (Sighart, Albertus Magnus. Sein Leben und seine Wissen- 
schaft, Regensburg 1857, 86). 92. Spec. perf. c. 10. 

93. ‘In libris testimonium Dei querere non pretium, edificationem non 
pulchritudinem edocebat.” Thom. Cel. II, n. 62. 

94. ‘In stratis et lectis ita abundabat copiosa paupertas, ut qui super paleam 
haberet panniculos semisanos pro matalaciis reputaret.”’ Spec. perf. c. 6. 

9s. ‘‘Non solum domorum arrogantiam odiebat homo iste, verum domorum 
utensilia multa vel exquisita plurimum perhorrebat. Nihil in mensis, nihil in 
vasis quo mundi recordaretur amabat, ut omnia peregrinationem, omnia can- 
taret exsilium.’”?’ Thom. Cel. II, n. 60. 

96. ‘Omni studio, omni sollicitudine custodiebat sanctam et divinam pau- 
pertatem, non patiens, ne quando ad superflua perveniret, nec vasculum in 
domo aliquod residere, cum sine ipso utcumque posset extremz necessitatis 
evadere servitutem. Impossibile namque fore, aiebat, satisfacere necessitati 
et voluptati non obedire.” Thom. Cel. I, n. 51. 


456. W“DHEIIDBABSIOBSTIERZDIN GES 


97. Thom. Cel. II,n.61. 98. Matth.x,9sq. 99. Testamentum, ed. Böhmer 
37, Lemmens 79. 

100. Mark vi, 8 sq. Cf. P. Soiron, O. F. M., Das Armutsideal des hl. Franz von 
‘Assisi, in: Franziskan. Studien VII (1917) 10 f. 

ror. “Et dixit eis: Quando misi vos sine sacculo et pera et calceamentis, 
numquid aliquid defuit vobis? At illi dixerunt: Nihil. Dixit ergo eis: Sed nunc 
qui habet sacculum, tollat similiter et peram, et qui non habet, vendat tunicam 
suam et emat gladium.” Luke xxii, 35 sq. 

102. ‘*Tunicas superiores. . . tunicas inferiores ... et bracas .. .” Tord. 
a lano n. 6; cf. ibid. n. 20, for the year 1221. 103. Regula I, c. 2, Opusc. ed. 
Bohmer 3, Lemmens 27. 

104. This was intended by Francis from the beginning: ‘‘Parat sibi ex tunc 
tunicam crucis imaginem preeferentem.’”’ Thom. Cel. I, n. 22. Later writings 
assert the same. 105. Regula I, ibid., Opusc. ed. Böhmer 2, Lemmens 26. 106. 
Ibid. c. 14. 107. Spec. perf. c. 3. 

108. The precept forbidding money was retained in a different connection, as 
we shall see. 

109. Sandals also were worn by the brothers in the first years. Francis him- 
self put aside his shoes at the time of his final calling. (Thom. Cel. I, n. 22; 
Tres Soc. n. 25). That in the following years the brothers did not wear sandals 
is evident from the comparison which Abbot Burchard of Ursperg (died 1226) 
draws between the Poor Men of Lyons and the Minorites: ‘‘Pauperes de Lug- 
duno . . . calceos desuper pedem precidebant et quasi nudis pedibus ambula- 
bant. . . Pauperes Minores precise nudis pedibus tam zstate quam hieme ambu- 
labant” (Burchardi Urspergensis Chronicon ed. Abel-Weiland, Monum. Germ. 
hist. Script. XXIII, 376). As we have shown, Francis was acquainted only 
with the words of the Mission according to Matth. x, 10, and Luke x, 4, in 
which shoes are forbidden to the disciples, and not with those of Mark vi, 8 sq., 
in which sandals are allowed. From various writings of St. Bonaventure we 
learn that in the meantime the use of sandals had become general in the Order 
and that this custom was rightly based on the words and example of Christ and 
the Apostles. (Apologia pauperum c. 6, n. 6 sqq.; Epistola de sandaliis A pos- 
tolorum; Expositio in Regulam Fratrum Minorum c. 2, n. 17 sqq., Opera VIII, 
268. 386-390. 402). St. Bonaventure answers his opponent, who had asserted 
that it was contrary to the Gospel and improper for the Brothers to go without 
covering for the feet, with the striking retort: ‘‘Tu igitur, qui Evangelii doctor 
es et sectator, si huius evangelice perfectionis apicem non attingis usu, attingas 
saltem affectu pio, affatu veridico et catholico intellectu, et noli . .. contra 
evangelicorum pedum nuditatem pelles mortuas defensare.” (Ep. de sandaliis 
apostolorum n. 16, Opera VIII, 390). 

ııo. ‘‘Habeant unam tunicam cum caputio et aliam sine caputio, qui volue- 
rint habere. Et qui necessitate coguntur, possint portare calceamenta.” Reg. 
II, c. 2, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 30, Lemmens 65. In order to estimate this precept 
more correctly, we place the parallel ordinance of the oldest constitutions of the 
Dominican Order (1228) by its side: “Et non plures tunicas (defferant fratres) 
quam tres cum pellicio in yeme vel quatuor sine pellicio, quod semper tunica 
copertum deferatur. Pellibus silvestribus et coopertoriis quarumcumque pel- 
lium fratres nostri non utantur. Tunice circa cavillam pedis sufficit ut descen- 
dant, quibus cappa brevior sit et etiam pellicium. Scapularia nostra circa cooper- 
turam genuum sufficit ut descendant. Caligas et soccos habebimus ut necesse 
fuerit et facultas permiserit. Ocreas non habebimus nec chirothecas.” (Con- 
stitutiones antique ord. fratrum predicatorum ed. P. Denifle in: Archiv fiir Lit.- 
und Kirchengesch. des Mittelalters I, 104). Three coats therefore with fur, or 
four without fur; over that, scapular and mantle; shoes and stockings according 
to necessity, but no boots or gloves. 

111. Regula II, c. 2. 112. Thom. Cell II, n. 65. 

113. “*. . . .secundum loca [individual houses] et tempora et frigidas regiones.” 
Regula II, c. 4, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 32, Lemmens 67. 

114. The luxury in clothing indulged in by many monks can best be judged 


NOTES 457 


from the reformatory statutes of the Cistercians (S. Stephani Abbatis Cist. Exor- 
dium parvum c. 15, Migne, Patrol. lat. 166, 1507) and Cluniacensians (Petri 
Venerab. Statuta Congregat. Cluniac. c. 18, Migne, Patrol. lat. 189, 1030 sq.) 
and likewise from the contemporary decrees of Councils, e.g. of the Council of 
Paris, 1212: ‘‘Inhibemus districte illis [religiosis] auctoritate apostolica, ne 
chirothecis albis de corio, quibus uti solent seculares, et que sunt quasi signum 
lascivie, utantur; vel calceamentis secularibus, puta hosellis, vel calceis nimis 
strictis et peracutis [pointed shoes], vel pileis, quae vulgo dicuntur de coton, 
vel opertoriis pretiosis, puta var lis vel griseis, vel de ciragrallis, vel de cuniculis, 
vel de venetis. Pannis etiam non utantur nisi nigris vel albis, et non sumptuosis, 
aut satellis pictis vel discoloribus, suis vel alienis.” Harduin, Acta Conciliorum 
VII, 2007, X. 

115. Regula II, c. 2, ed. Böhmer 31, Lemmens 65. 

116. Regula I, c. 2, ed. Böhmer 3, Lemmens 27. 

117. “Tantum adhuc laxabitur rigor, dominabitur tepor, quod filii pauperis 
patris etiam scarlaticos portare, colore solum mutato, minime verebuntur.”’ 
Thom. Cel. IT, n. 69. Petrus Venerab. loc. cit. testifies that some monks were 
led by the“ vestium damnata curiositas” to parade in scarlet clothing. 118. Ibid. 

119. ‘‘Revera ipse a principio religionis usque ad mortem tunica sola, corda 
et femoralibus dives, nihil aliud habuit. Indicabat eius habitus pauper ubi 
suas divitias aggregaret.” Thom. Cel. IT, n. 55. 

120. ‘“Ut tales suo exemplo confunderet, super tunicam propriam rudem 
consuit saccum; in morte etiam exsequialem tunicam vili sacco petiit operiri.” 
Ibid. n. 69. 121. Thom. Cel. IT, n. 214 sq. 

122. Ad. Harnack remarks rightly: “It is a well-known fact that poverty 
was the dominant theme in the history of the thirteenth and fourteenth cen- 
turies, that they argued as stubbornly and as hotly about it as about the natures 
of Christ from the fourth to the sixth century.” Dogmengeschichte III, Freiburg 
i, Br. 1897, 388. Cf. Balthasar, Geschichte des Armutsstreites im Franziskaner- 
orden bis zum Konzil von Vienne, Münster 1911. 


CHAPTER VII 


1. Cf. H. v. Scheel, Der Begriff des Geldes in seiner historisch-ökonomischen 
Entwicklung, in: Jahrbücher für Nationalökonomie und Statistik 6 (1866), 12-29; 
Walther Lotz, Die Lehre vom Ursprung des Geldes, ibid. 62 (1894), 337-359; 
Emil Michael, Geschichte des deutschen Volkes seit dem dreizehnten Jahrhundert 
bis zum Ausgang des Mittelalters I, Freiburg i. Br. 1897, 136-144. 

a seeip78. 3. See D.,7- 

. “Verum summopere amicus Dei cuncta, que sunt mundi, despiciens, 
abe) omnia tamen exsecrabatur pecuniam. Inde illam a principio suze con- 
versionis pr&cipue vilipendit, et tamquam ipsum diabolum se sequentibus 
semper innuit fugiendam. MHec ab ipso data erat solertia suis: ut stercus et 
pecuniam uno amoris pretio ponderarent.” Thom. Cel. IT, n. 65. 

SNL TES S06. 11.020, 

6. ‘Cum autem Dominus Bernardus bona sua pauperibus largiretur aderat 
beatus Franciscus intuens virtuosam operationem Domini, et ipsum Dominum 
in corde suo glorificans et collaudans.” Ibid.n. 30. 7. Ibid. n. 30-31. 

8. “Noluit ergo vir, quod daretur eis aliquod tegumentum, licet esset tunc 


magnum frigus: quia putabat eos esse ribaldos et fures. . . Calefacti solo 
calore divino et cooperti tegumento Dominz Paupertatis..... ame res! SOG. 
n. 39. 9. Ibid. n. 39 sq. 

10. ‘“Ipsi autem Christi pauperes neque sacculum in via portant . . . neque 


gs sive pecuniam aliquam in zonis suis, non possidentes aurum neque argen- 
„ 


tum...” (Jacobi Vitriac. Historia orientalis lib. 2, c. 32, Böhmer, Analekten 


458 2 THE Di AWS Oey shee Nie 


103). ‘‘Pauperes minores . . . neque pecuniam nec quidquam aliud preter 
victum accipiebant et si quando necessariam quisquam eis sponte conferebat.. .”’ 
(Burchardi Ursperg. Chronicon ed. Abel-Weiland, Monum. Germ. hist. Script. 
XXIII, 376). 11. Tres Soc.n. 41. 12. Ibid. n. 45. 13. Thom. Cel. II, n. 65. 
14. Thom. Cel. II, n. 68. A similar occurrence is related by Thom. Cel. II, 
n. 66. 

15. “Pecuniam contempsit in tantum, ut in omnibus regulis suis commen- 
daret potissime paupertatem et omnes fratres sollicitos redderet de pecunia 
evitanda.” Tres Soc. n. 35. 

16. Regula I, c. 2, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 2, Lemmens 26. 

17. Regula I, c. 7, Opusc. ed. Bohmer 7, Lemmens 33. 

18. Regula I, c. 8, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 8 sq., Lemmens 35 sq. 

19. Regula II, c. 4, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 31 sq., Lemmens 67. 

20. The principal passage of this important decree is as follows: ‘‘Duximus 
respondendum, quod si rem necessariam velint fratres emere, vel solutionem 
facere pro iam empta, possint vel nuntium eius, a quo res emitur, vel aliquem 
alium volentibus sibi eleemosynam facere, preesentare, qui taliter presentatus 
non est eorum nuntius, licet pr&sentetur ab ipsis, sed illius potius, cuius mandato 
solutionem fecit seu recipientis eandem. . . Si vero pro aliis imminentibus neces- 
sitatibus pr&sentetur, eleemosynam sibi commissam potest, sicut et dominus, 
apud spiritualem amicum fratrem deponere, per ipsum loco et tempore pro 
ipsorum huiusmodi necessitatibus, sicut expedire viderit, dispensandam. Ad 
quem etiam fratres pro huiusmodi necessitatibus poterunt habere recursum 
maxime si negligens fuerit, vel necessitates ignoraverit eorundem.” Bull “Quo 
elongati,” Bullar. franc. I, 69. 21. Luke xxii, 35-36. 22. Matth. xvii, 23 sqq. 
23. John xii, 6. 

24. St. Bonaventure remarks hereto: ‘‘Christus habuit loculos tribus de 
causis: pro pauperibus aliis, condescendo infirmis, in articulo necessitatis, 
utpote quando transibat per Samaritanos. In quo etiam articulo discipulis 
loculos habere permisit secundum illud: ‘Quando misi vos sine sacculo et pera 
etc.’ .. . . Modus habendi loculos in Domino in nullo minuit paupertatem. 
Sic enim Dominus condescendit infirmitati et necessitati, ut tamen salva esset 
forma paupertatis et exemplum, quod precipue monstrare venerat hominibus.” 
De perfectione evangelica q. IV, a. 1, Opera V, 131. 

25. ‘‘Nautas quosdam Anconam tendentes, ut eum secum transveherent, 
exoravit. Verum hoc agere pertinacius recusantibus propter defectum expen- 
sarum, sanctus Dei, confidens plurimum de Domini bonitate, navem latenter 
cum socio introivit.” Thom. Cel., Tractatus de miraculis n. 33. 26. Bull “Ex 
parte,” March 17, 1226, Bullar. franc. I, 26, n. 25. 

27. St. Benedict stresses this point in Rule c. 48: ‘*Tunc fratres vere monachi 
sunt, si labore manuum suarum vivunt, sicut et Patres nostri et Apostoli.” 

28. “In bene moderatis monasteriis constitutum est, aliquid manibus operari, 
et ceteras horas habere ad legendum et orandum.” De opere monachorum c. 
29, Migne, Patrol. lat. 40, 576. 

29. ‘‘Otiositas inimica est anime; et ideo certis temporibus occupari debent 
fratres in labore manuum, certis iterum horis in lectione divina.” S. Benedicti 
Regula c. 48. 

30. ‘‘Si quis ita negligens et desidiosus fuerit, ut non velit aut non possit 
meditari aut legere, iniungatur ei opus, quod faciat, ut non vacet.” Ibid. 

31. S. Bernardi Epistol. I, n. 4; Migne, Patrol. lat. 182, 73. 

32. Dialogus inter Cluniacensem et Cisterciensem monachum, in: Marténe et 
Durand, Thesaurus novus anecdotorum, Lut. Paris. 1717, t. V, 1623, n. 52. 

33. The “litteratura”’ of the monks from the 11th to the 13th century must 
of course not be rated too high. In many cases it consisted merely in memoriz- 
ing the Psalter. A large number of monks were in fact illiterates. Cf. P. 
Eberhard Hoffmann, Das Konverseninstitut des Zisterzienserordens, Freiburg 
(Schweiz) 1905, 40. During the 13th century, however, the older monasteries 
again resumed literary labors. (Cf. Felder, Geschichte der wissenschaftl. Studien 


NOTES 459 


im Franziskanerorden 118-120). 34. Testamentum, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 37, 
Lemmens 79. 

35. St. Thomas of Aquinas thus elucidates the relation between poverty and 
labor: ‘‘Mercenarii [wage-earners] pauperes sunt, de laboribus suis victum 
querentes quotidianum; et ideo lex provide ordinavit, ut statim eis merces 
solveretur, ne victus eis deficeret” (Summa I, 2, q. 105, a. 2 ad 6). Servants 
and artisans were also classed as ‘‘mercenarii,” receiving their livelihood in 
return for their labors. Cf. Anton von Kostanecki, Arbeit und Armut, Freiburg 
i. Br. 1909, 25-42. 36. Testam., Opusc. ed. Böhmer 36, Lemmens 77. Cf. 
Thom. Cel. I, n. 17. 37. Thom. Cel. I, n.-16. 38. Tres Soc. n. 21 sqq. 39. 
Thom. Cel. II, n. 120. 

40. ‘‘Fecerat quadam quadragesima vasculum quoddam, circa quod minutia 
temporis, ne penitus exciderent, applicaverat.” Jbid. n. 97. 

41. ‘‘Proponebat, Christo duce, ingentia se facturum. . . Flagrabat proinde 
desiderio magno ad humilitatis reverti primordia, et pre amoris immensitate 
spe gaudens, corpus suum, licet ad tantam iam devenisset extremitatem, revo- 
care cogitavit ad pristinam servitutem. . . Volebat ad serviendum leprosis 
redire denuo. . .” Thom. Cel. II, n. 103. 

42. “‘Solliciti erant quotidie orare et laborare manibus suis, ut omnem otiosi- 
tatem, anime inimicam, a se penitus effugarent.”’ Tres Soc. n. 41. 

43. ‘‘Macerabant autem carnem suam multis ieiuniis, frigore et nuditate et 
labore manuum suarum. Multoties enim, ut non starent otiosi, iuvabant pau- 
peres homines in agris eorum, et postea ipsi dabant eisdem de pane amore Dei.” 
Spec. perf. c. 56. 

44. ‘“‘Conversabantur in eodem loco cum b. patre filii et fratres omnes in 
labore multo et inopia universarum rerum.” Thom. Cel. I, n. 42. 

45. Two chapels of this leprosorium are still extant, San Rufino d’Arce and 
Santa Maria Maddalena. For the illustrations see Schnürer, Franz von Assisi, 
1907, 52. 

er Epist. I. data Ianuae a. 1216, Böhmer, Analekten, 98. Regarding the 
Poor Clares, Jacques de Vitry also says: ‘‘Mulieres vero iuxta civitates in 
diversis hospitiis commorantur, nihil accipiunt, sed de labore manuum vivunt.” 
Ibid. loc. cit. 47. Thom. Cel. I, n. 39 sq. 

48. ‘‘Raro autem alicui pro tota die se obligabat, ut posset opportuno tem- 
pore orationi vacare. Si quando autem pro tota die se obligabat, semper reser- 
vabat sibi, ut posset dicere horas suas.” Vita fr. K£gidii, Analecta franc. III, 82. 

49. ‘‘Omnia autem laboriosa, quae operabatur, voluntarie semper et alacriter 
faciebat.” Ibid. 84. 

50. “Nullum laboritium quantumlibet vile verecundabatur facere, dummodo 
illud honeste facere posset.” Ibid. 82. 51. Ibid. 79. 52. Ibid. 77. 53. Ibid. 
81 sq. 54. Ibid. 83 sq. 55. Ps. cxxvii, 2. 56. 2 Thess. iii, 10; 1 Cor. vii, 24. 

57. 9. Hieronymus, Epist. 125, n. 11; Migne, Patrol. lat. 22, 1078. 

58. S. Anselmus Cant., Epist. lib. 3, 49; Migne, Patrol. lat. 159, 81. 

59. Regula I, c. 7, ed. Böhmer 7 sq., Lemmens 33 sq. 

60. Regula II, c. 5, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 32, Lemmens 68. 

61. Testamentum, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 37 sq., Lemmens 79. 

62. See Chapter XVII, ‘ Franciscan Science.” 

63. Bull “Cum secundum,” Sept. 22, 1220, Bullar. francisc. I, 6. 

64. = Felder, Geschichte der wissenschaftl. Studien im Franziskanerorden, 67 f. 
65. Ibid. 71. 

66. St. Bonaventure remarks regarding the chapter dealing with labor in the 
rule of 1223, that Francis did not expect any monetary returns accruing from 
the manual labor of the brothers, just as he himself did not earn as much as 
twelve deniers during his whole life: ‘“‘Ipse autem de labore manuum parvam 
vim faciebat nisi propter otium declinandum, quia, cum ipse fuerit regule 
observator perfectissimus, non credo, quod unquam lucratus fuerit de labore 
manuum duodecim denarios vel eorum valorem; sed potissime fratres ad ora- 
tionem monebat, nec volebat quod illam exstinguerent propter lucrum.” Epist. 
de iribus quest. n. 9; Opera VIII, 334. 


4160 THE TITDEAESOBSTIERANGTS 


67. Larger vegetable gardens were laid out (since 1240) by the Minister Gen- 
eral Fr. Haymo, who declared that it was evidently better that the brothers 
raise their own vegetables, than that they should beg for them. (Fr. Thome 
-de Eccleston, Tractatus de Adventu Fratrum Minorum in Angliam, coll. 10, ed. 
Little, Paris 1909, 55 sq.). St. Bonaventure defended the laying out of spacious 
monastery gardens, declaring that they were necessary “for the raising of vege- 
tables as well as for the sake of air, so that the sick may recuperate, the healthy 
relax, and those exhausted by mental labor may regain strength.” (Determi- 
nationes quest. pars 2, q. 6, Opera VIII, 341). i 

68. The legislators of the ancient monasteries, whose inmates were almost 
exclusively lay-brothers, excoriated idleness as did Francis. St. Augustine 
rebukes certain lazy monks with fine sarcasm, and continues: “It is not proper 
that the workmen do not work in that religious state in which senators become 
laborers, and that the servants indulge themselves, while the lords renounce all 
luxury” (De opere monachorum c. 25, n. 33; Migne, Patrol. lat. 40, 575). Bene- 
dict of Nursia inveighs severely against idleness, and directs that even 
delicate and sick brothers occupy themselves as much as their condition permits 
(Regula S. Benedictt c. 48). When later on some Benedictines, in particular 
those of Cluny, did away with manual labor, Peter the Venerable was forced to 
introduce it again (1146), giving as reason: “‘Otiositas . . . in tantum magnam 
partem nostrorum, maxime eorum qui conversi dicuntur, occupaverat, ut in 
claustris vel extra claustra, preter paucos legentes et raros scribentes, aut adhe- 
rentes claustri parietibus domitarent, aut ab ipso, ut ita dicam, ortu solis usque 
ad eius occasum, imo fere mediam noctem, quibus impune licebat, totam pene 
diem vanis, otiosis et (quod peius est) etiam detractoriis verbis consumerent”’ 
(Statuta Congreg. Cluniac. n. 39; Migne Patrol. lat. 189, 1037). 69. Thom. 
Cel. II, n. 161. 70. Ibid. n. 162. 

71. Fr. Salimbene. Liber de prelato, Parm& 1857, 404. 

72. “‘Labori sunt astricti validi et fortes, et qui vitam in seculo de labore 
corporis transigebant, et tales . . . plures erant in exordio religionis minorum 
fratrum; et ideo ad labores erant arctandi; nunc autem comparatione aliorum 
paucissimi sunt tales.” De perfectione evangelica q. 2, a. 2, Opera V, 154. 

73. St. Bonaventure says loc. cit. that the lay-brothers be “solicitous for the 
needs of the brothers—circa necessaria fratrum intenti.” 

74. The enemies of the Mendicant Orders, in particular William of St. Amour, 
asserted that Francis had obliged also the educated brothers to perform manual 
labor. This assertion was refuted by St. Bonaventure in various writings (De 
perfectione evangelica q. 2, Opera V, 144-165; Epistola de tribus questionibus n. 
9, Opera VIII, 334; Expositio super Regulam FF. Minorum c. 5, Opera VIII, 
419 sq.; Apologia pauperum c. 12, Opera VIII, 320 sq.) and condemned by 
Alexander IV in 1256 (Bull ‘‘ Non sine,” Bullar. franc. II, 165). 

75. “Cum labore sudandum sit, ut veritas cognoscatur, ut cognita diligatur, 
et cognita et dilecta aliis proponatur.”’ S. Bonav., De perfect. evangel. q. 2, a. 2, 
n. 9; Opera V, 145. 

76. “Quanto enim spiritus melior est corpore, tanto spiritualis quam cor- 
poralis exercitatio fructuosior.” Ibid. 165. ‘‘Labor sapientie simpliciter 
melior est corporeo labore.” (S. Bonav., Expositio Regule c. 5, n. 4; Opera 
VIII, 420). 

77. ““Si enim corporalia faciendo meretur quis sustentamentum, multo for- 
tius spiritualia opera impendendo, que corporalibus operibus merito preferun- 
tur.” S. Bonav., De perf. evangel. ibid. 145. 

78. “Modus autem laudabilissimus corpori necessaria acquirendi est in 
predicationis et doctrine laboribus exerceri. Labor enim mechanicus condigne 
certo pretio compensatur, non autem est compensatio receptio corporalium 
spiritualia seminanti.” S. Bonav., Expositio Regule c. 5, n. 2, ibid. 420. 

79: See Felder, Geschichte der wissenschaftl. Studien 348 ff. 80. See Felder ibid. 
349 fl. 

81. Guigo, Statua Ordinis Carthusiensis c. 28, ed. Holstenius, Codex regularum 
II,322. 82. Matth.x,10; Lukex,7. 83. Lukex,7. 84. Luke viii, 1-3; 22, 35. 


NOTES 461 


85. 1 Cor.ix, 4,7. 11.14. The Apostle indeed gained his livelihood by manual 
labor, but he declares that he did so of his own choice and for the sake of exam- 
ple: ı Cor. ix, 12. 15; 1 Thess. ii, 7-9; 2 Thess. iii, 8 sq. 

86. ‘Si enim Deus peccatoribus donat bona temporalia propter nutriendorum 
filiorum amorem, multo magis viris evangelicis, quibus hec debentur ex merito, 
largietur.” Tres Soc. n. Er 

87. ‘“Ministros verbi Dei tales volebat, qui studüs spiritualibus intendentes 
nullis aliis prepedirentur ofhciis.” T hom. Cel. LEA e163? 

88. Regula II, c. 5. Not even the office of teaching or studies were to injure 
the spirit of prayer, as Francis wrote to St. Anthony: ‘“‘Placet mihi, quod sacram 
theologiam fratribus legas, dummodo propter huius studium sanctz orationis 
spiritum non exstinguant.” Böhmer 71. 89. See p. 152 f. 90. De perf. 
evangel. q. 2, a. 2; Opera V, 134. 

91. “Cum omnia bona ecclesiarum et monasteriorum non sint nisi eleemosynez 
pauperum, ut Sancti dicunt et manifestum est.” Ibid. q. 2, a. 3, n. 17, p. 160. 

92. ‘“Omnes quotquot validi et clerici et monachi, qui vivunt de huiusmodi 
bonis sine labore manuali . . de grossis et magnis eleemosynis. . .” Ibid. 

03. The objection raised by William of St. Amour, by secular priests and 
monks, that it was improper for the Franciscans and Dominicans to live on 
alms and begging, is answered pointedly by St. Bonaventure: ‘‘Si enim illicitum 
est per eleemosynarum acceptionem pauperibus Christi accipere vite susten- 
tamentum, multo fortius illicitum est accipere amplitudinem et multitudinem 
possessionum et redituum. Quis enim ita absurdus est, qui dicat, licere alicui 
accipere talentum auri et non frustum panis? Quod si hoc verum est; cum 
universarum ecclesiarum possessiones tam in religiosis proprietatem habentibus 
quam in clericis secularibus, habeantur per acceptionem eleemosynarum volun- 
tarie et gratis datarum: videbitur ex hoc subverti status universarum eccle- 
siarum, si eleemosynas accipere vel de eleemosynis vivere, seu in parva quan- 
titate seu in magna, illicitum iudicetur; nisi forte quis dicat, quod licitum est 
accipere, sed non est licitum petere. Sed mirum videtur, quod aliquis possit in 
illud quod maius est, et non in illud quod minus est; et quod aliquod monas- 
terium possit recipere centum millia marcarum in reditibus ab aliquo principe, 
et unus pauperculus non possit suae indigentiz relevationem suppliciter implo- 
rare... ; et quod aliquis possit petere aliqua expedientia ad alicuius divitis 
monasterii securitatem et abundantiam, et pauper voluntarius non possit petere 
vite sustentamentum.” Ibid. q. 2, a. 2; Opera V, 142. 

94. Matth. x, 9-10. 95. Luke viii, 2-3; John xii, 6 

96. Cf. S. Bonav., De perf. evangel. q. 2, a. 2; Opera V. 140. 

07. ‘‘Pater sanctus utebatur eleemosynis ostiatim quesitis multo libentius 
quam oblatis.” Thom. Cel. II, n. 71. 

98. “‘Contemptus sui est perfectionis, et maior contemptus maioris pe:fec- 
tionis; sed qui pro Christo mendicat maxime seipsum contemnit et abiicit; ergo 
talis perfectissime agit.” S. Bonav. ibid. 139, n. 29. 

99. ‘‘Omnino pauperis, secundum quod pauper, actus est egere et mendicare; 
ergo si esse pauperem bonum est, mendicare pro Christo laudabile est et per- 
fectum.” S. Bonav. ibid. n. 26. 

roo. The sources emphazise continually that Francis always chose this 
motive and this formula when begging. The Spec. perf. c. 23 gives the instruc- 
tion of Francis more fully: ‘‘Quum frater vadit pro eleemosyna, prius debet 
dicere: Laudatus et benedictus sit Dominus Deus! Postea debet dicere: Facite 
nobis eleemosynam amore Domini Dei.” 

tor. Tres Soc.n. 10. 102. Tres Soc. n. 22. 103. Ibid. n. 23. 104. Ibid. n. 
24; Thom. Cel. IJ, n. 13. 

105. “‘Ne vel semel sanctam illam sponsam offenderet, hoc facere solitus erat 
servus Dei excelsi. Si quando invitatus a dominis, mensis esset profusioribus 
honorandus, prius per propinquas vicinorum domos panum fragmenta querebat, 
ac deinde sic ditatus inopia festinabat accumbere.” ‘Thom. Cel. II, n. 72. 

106. Thom. Cel. II, n. 73. Cf. Spec. perf. c. 23 and S. Bonav.c.7,n.7. 107. 
S. Bonav. c. 7, n. 8. 


A627. EINE. TD E ATS ABER: RALAREASN RIES 


108. ‘‘Nonnunquam seipsum exercitans et fratrum verecundis parcens, ipse 
solus in principio pro eleemosynis discurrebat.” Thom. Cel. II, n. 74. 109. 
Spec. perf. c. 18. 

. r1o. “Verecundiam mendicandi inimicam saluti dicebat, verecundiam in 

mendicando eam, que pedem non retrahit, sanctam esse confirmans. Nasci 
ruborem in tenera fronte laudabat, pudore confundi non ita.” Thom. Cel. 
II, n. 71. ııı. Isaias l, 7. x12. Regula I, c. 9, Opusc. ed. Böhmer, ro Lem- 
mens 37. 113. Thom. Cel. II, n. 71; S. Bonav. c. 7, n. 8. 114. Thom. Cel. II, 
n. 74; cf. Spec. perf. c. 18. 115. Tres Suc. n. 35. 116. Iord. a Iano n. 27. 
117. Spec. perf. c. 18. 118. Thom. Cel. II, n. 76; Spec. perf. c. 50. 

119. ‘‘Dicebat sepe beatus Franciscus, quod verus frater Minor non multum 
stare deberet, quin pro eleemosynis iret. Et quando nobilior, ait, filius meus 
est, tanto sit promptior ad eundum, quoniam taliter ei merita cumulantur. 
Thom. Cel. II, n. 75. 120. Thom. Cel. ibid; Spec. perf. c. 24. 121. Matth. 
vi, 34. 122. Spec. perf. c. 19. 

123. “Prohibuit fratri, qui faciebat coquinam fratribus, ne poneret legumina 
de sero in aqua calida quando debebat ea dare fratribus ad manducandum die 
sequenti, sicut consuetum est: ut observarent illud verbum sancti evangelii: 
Nolite solliciti esse de crastino.” Ibid. 

124. “Si quis eis aliquid misercorditer contulerit, non reservant in posterum.” 
Iacobi Vitriac. Historia orientalis lib. 2, c. 32, Böhmer, Analekten 103. ‘‘Nullum 
genus alimenti penes eos usque in crastinum reservatur, ut paupertas spiritus, 
quz viget in mente, actu sicut habitu omnibus innotescat.” Rogeri de Wend- 
over, Flores historiarum ed. Monum. Germ. hist. Script. XXVIII, 41. 

125. Spec. perf.c.19. 126. Chronican. 16. 127. Ps. lxxii, 78. 

128. Determinationes questionum, pars I, q. 7, Opera VIII, 342. 

129. ‘‘Dicebat b. Franciscus ista verba fratribus frequenter: ‘Non fui latro 
de eleemosynis acquirendo eas vel utendo eis ultra necessitatem. Semper minus 
accepi quam me contingeret, ne alii pauperes defraudarentur portione, quia 
contrarium facere furtum esset.” Spec. perf. c. 12. 

130. “In eleemosynarum datione animarum lucrum potius quam carnis 
subsidium requirebat, et non minus in dando quam in accipiendo se ipsum 
ponebat ceteris in exemplum.” Thom. Cel. II, n. 78. 

131. Vita fr. Egidii ed. Anal. franc. III, 77. 83. 

132. Regula I, c. 9, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 10, Lemmens 37. 

133. The opinion of Sabatier (Spec. perf. p. 64, note 1) that the Friars were 
originally allowed to beg only for the lepers, will appear evidently erroneous 
after reading our treatment of this subject. Sabatier quotes in defense of his 
opinion the following passage from the rule of 1221: ‘‘Et nullo modo fratres 
recipiant nec recipi faciant, nec querant, nec queri faciant pecuniam vel elee- 
mosynam.” But this quotation is false. The passage in question does not, 
read “‘pecuniam vel eleemosynam”’ but “pecuniam pro eleemosyna,” in other 
words: the brothers are forbidden to accept money as alms. 

134. Regula II, c. 6, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 32, Lemmens 68. 

135. Testamentum, ed. Böhmer 37 sq., Lemmens 79. 

136. S. Paulini Poema 24, v. 329-332; Migne, Patrol. lat. 61, 621. 

137. S. August., De opere monachorum, c. 28 n. 36; Migne, Patrol. lat. 40, 575. 

138. See Pierron, Die katholischen Armen, Freiburg, Herder ı911, 60 ff. 

139. Copious proofs for this are brought forward by Fr. H. Denifle, O. P., 
Die Konstitutionen des Predigerordens vom J. 1228, in: Archiv. für Literatur- 
und Kirchengesch. I, (1885) 182 f. 

140. “Cum dilecti filii Frater Franciscus et Socii eius de vita religione Minorum 
Fratrum abiectis vanitatibus huius mundi . . . serendo semina verbi Dei apos- 
tolorum exemplo diversas circumeant mansiones. . .” Bullar. franc. 1, 2. 

141. “‘Quia vero debemus religiosas fovere partes et maxime dicti Ordinis 
Fratres, qui relictis omnibus Christum sequuntur, pro eo pauperes et in pau- 
pertate vivere continua eligentes. . .” Bullar. franc. I, 23. 

142. De perfectione evangel. q. 2, a. 2, conclusio; Opera V, 140 sq. 

143. “Pro Christo, inquam, imitando, quantum ad contemptum sui, affectum 


NOTES 463 


proximi et cultum Dei. Nam in his tribus potissime debemus Christum imitari. 
Quod quidem facit, qui voluntarie mendicat pro nomine Christi, ut seipsum 
vilificet et humiliet, ut proximum suum edificet et provocet ad pietatem, et ut 
Deo libera mente, deposita omni szculi sollicitudine.” Jbid. 140. 144. 

id. 141. 

145. “Quantum fratres declinabunt a paupertate, tantum mundus declinabit 
ab eis, et qu&rent et non invenient. Sed si Dominam meam Paupertatem 
complexi fuerint, mundus eos nutriet, quia mundo dati sunt ad salutem. Com- 
mercium est inter mundum et fratres: debent ipsi mundo bonum exemplum, 
debet eis mundus provisionem necessitatum.” Thom. Cel. II, n. 70. 

146. Luke xii, 6 f.; Matth. x, 29 f. 147. Matth. vi, 25 ff.; Luke xii, 24. 
148. Tres Soc. n. 20. 

149. Thom. Cel. I, n. 29. The biographer adds that Francis repeated these 
words: ‘‘Iacta cogitatum tuum in Domino, et ipse te enutriet,”’ as often as he 
later on sent a brother anywhere in obedience. 

150. Actus B. Francisci et Sociorum eius c. 13, ed. Paul Sabatier, Paris, 
1002980 59. 151. Tres’Socsn! so. 1827 Lbids ne si) 153.'Deutix, 18: 

154. Historia orientalis lib. 2, c. 32, Böhmer, Analekten 104. 

155. Tres Soc. n. 46. 156. Thom. Cel. Tractatus de miraculis, n. 33. 157. 
Thom. Cel. I, n. 34. 158. Thom. Cel. Tractatus de miraculis n. 33. 159. Ibid. 
35. 160. Ibid. 161. S. Bonav. c. 7, n. 12. 162. Thom. Cel. Tract. de mirac. 
2.9630 163.1 Thoms Cel>1;.n. 772° 164: 8. Bonav. 7; n2 13. 

165. De perf. evangel. q. 2, a. 1; Opera V, 133 sq. 

166. “Sic paternus ille oculus nequaquam despicit suos, quin potius maiori 
defectu mendicos maior providentia nutrit. Largiori mensa pauper pascitur 
quam tyrannus, quanto Deus homine profusior largitate.” Thom. Cel. II, n. 44. 

167. Jacopone, Le poesie spirituali lib. 3, oda 24, 16. 

168. See Imle, Ein heiliger Lebenskünstler, Paderborn 1914, 163 f. 


CHAPTER VIII 


t. Harnack, Lehrbuch der Dogmengeschichte III, 3. Auflage, Freiburg i. Br. 
1897, 380. 2. Salutatio virtutum, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 64 sq., Lemmens 20 sq. 

3. Spec. perf. c. 86. 4. Regula I, c. 9; Regula Il, c. 6 and 12, Opusc. ed. 
Böhmer 9. 32. 35, Lemmens 36. 68. 74. 

5. ‘““Beatus igitur pater Franciscus consolatione et gratia Spiritus sancti 
quotidie replebatur, omnique vigilantia et sollicitudine novos filios novis insti- 
tutionibus informabat, sancte paupertatis beatzque simplicitatis viam gressu 
indeclinabili eos edocens ambulare.” Thom. Cel. I, n. 26. 

6. Verba admonitionis c. 5, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 43, Lemmens 8 sq. 7. Thom. 
Cel. II, n. 134. 

8. Verba admonitionis c. 22, Opusc. ed. Bohmer 47, Lemmens 16. 9. Luke 
x, 20. 10. Regula I, c. 17, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 16 sq., Lemmens 46 sq. 

11. Verba admonitionis c, 12. 17, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 45 sq., Lemmens 12. 14. 

12. Is. liv, 1. 13. Thom. Cel. II, n. 164. 14. Thom. Cel. II, n. 194. 

15. *. . . Cui et si concessum est litterature precellere, plus tamen in mori- 
bus piz simplicitatis imaginem gerat teneatque virtutem.” Ibid. 185. 

16. “Et hec fuit intentio beati Francisci et Regula, quod fratres primo stu- 
derent quantum ad id, quod est per se et principale intentum: fundare seme- 
tipsos in vera humilitate . .” Ubertino di Casale, Rotilus, Archiv. III, 127. 

17. ‘Spiritus autem Domini. . . studet ad humilitatem et puram simplici- 
tatem.” Regula I, c. 17, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 16, Lemmens 47. 

18. “‘Asserebat autem... ad scientiam Dei facile perventurum eum, qui 
Scripture intendens, humilis non presumptuosus inquireret.” Thom. Cel. 
I, n. 102. 19. Thom Cel. I, n. 104. 

20. Verba admonitionis c. 4. 20. 24, Opusc. ed. Bohmer 43. 47. 48, Lemmens 


404° THE TD EATS OF TRAIN Cle 


8.15.17. 21. Regula II, c. 10, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 34, Lemmens 72. 22. Verba 
admon, c. 4; 8. Bonav. c. 6, n. § 

“Filius hominis non venit ministrari, sed ministrare.” Matth. xx, 28. 
örtetn sei: voluerit inter vos maior fieri, sit ‚vester minister, et quicumque 
voluerit inter vos primus esse, erit vester servus.” Matth. xx, 26. “Qui maior 
est in vobis, fiat sicut minor, et qui precessor est, sicut ministrator.” Luke 
xx, 26. 

24. Böhmer, Analekien 125, is in error, when he assumes that the fraternity 
did not receive the name ‘Minores” until 1216. In this very year Jaques de 
Vitry reports: ‘‘Fratres Minores vocabantur.” Burchard of Ursperg also 
(Chronicon, Monum. Germ. hist. Scriptores t. XIII, 376) gives the impression 
that the Franciscans were always called thus: “Eo tempore mundo iam sene- 
scente exortz sunt due religiones in ecclesia, cuius ut aquile iuventus renova- 
tur... . videlicet Minorum Fratrum et Predicatorum . . . maluerunt 
appellari Minores Fratres quam minores pauperes ...” The decisive word, 
however, is spoken by Thomas of Celano, I, n. 38, when he writes regarding the 
origin of the fraternity and its appellation i in the primitive rule: ‘‘Ordinem Fra- 
trum Minorum primitus ipse [Franciscus] plantavit, et ea occasione hoc ei nomen 
imposuit: cum nempe sic in Regula scriberetur: et sint minores: ad huius ser- 
monis prolationem ea quidem hora, volo, inquit, ut Ordo Fratrum Minorum 
fraternitas hec vocetur.” Likewise S pec. perf. c. 44. Aside from the Gospel, 
no doubt the one circumstance was also a factor in selecting this title; namely, 
that in the days of Francis the poorer classes in the cities were known as “Mi- 
nores,” while the wealthy classes, the merchants and nobles, were termed 

“Maiores.” See Chapter XIV. 

25. “Et nullus in vita ista vocetur prior, sed generaliter omnes vocentur 
Fratres Minores. Et alter alterius lavet pedes.” Regula I, c. 6, Opusc. ed. 
Bohmer 7, Lemmens 32. 

26. “Quamdiu fecistis uni ex his fratribus meis minimis, mihi fecistis . 
Quamdiu non fecistis uni de minoribus his, nec mihi fecistis.”” Matth. xxv, 40, 45. 

27. ‘“Hac igitur de causa humilitatis forma Franciscus fratres suos voluit 
vocari Minores, et prelatos sui Ordinis dici ministros, ut et verbis uteretur Evan- 
gelii, quod observare promiserat, et ex ipso nomine discerent discipuli eius, quod 
ad a humilitatem ad scholas humilis Christi venissent:” S. Bonav. 
c. 6, D 

28. "ie Dicebat beatus Franciscus, quod ideo Deus voluit et revelavit ei, ut 
vocarentur Fratres Minores, quia iste est populus pauper et humilis, quem 
Filius Dei postulavit Patri suo, de quo populo ipsemet Filius Dei dicit in evan- 
gelio: ‘Nolite timere pusillus grex, quia complacuit patri vestro dare vobis 
regnum.’” Spec. perf. c. 26. 

29. Epistola I, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 53, Lemmens 93. 30. Spec. perf. c. 44. 

31. “. . . nec presint in domibus eorum, quibus serviunt . . ., sed sint 
minores et subditi omnibus, qui in eadem domo sunt.” Regula I, c. 7, Opuse. 
ed. Böhmer 7, Lemmens 33. 32. Thom. Cel. II, n. 148. 

33. “Videns autem quosdam prelationibus inhiare, quos preter alia vel sola 
reddebat indignos ambitio presidendi, eos non esse fratres minores dicebat, 
sed vocationis, qua vocati erant, oblitos a gloria excidisse.” Thom. Cel. II, n. 145. 

34. “Humilis est homo per affectum inferioritatis sive minoritatis; esse 
humilem, hoc est esse omnium minorem; ... esse humiles, hoc esse fratres 
Minores.” S. Bonav. De S. P. Nostro Francisco sermo V. Opera IX, 594. 

35. ‘“‘Universis denique se subditum exhibebat.” Anonymus Perusinus, n. 
37. Cf. Tres Soc. n. 57. 

36. “Et eramus idiote et subditi omnibus.” Testamentum, Opusc. ed. 
Bohmer 37, Lemmens 79. 

37. “Et omnes clericos et omnes religiosos habeamus pro dominis in his, que 
spectant ad salutem anime.” Regula I, c. 19, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 18, Lem- 
mens 49. 


38. “Et ipsos [pauperculos sacerdotes huius seculi] et omnes alios volo 


NOTES 465 


timere, amare et honorare sicut m i 
mere, eos dominos.” Testamentu 
Böhmer 36, Lemmens 78. 39. Testamentum, Opusc. ed. an a ald ae 
Bo. 40. Spec. perf. c. 50. ra ptr iar 
4 5 : 13 
mae Me Hg per humilitatem maluit vincere quam per iudicii 
ere AG Bless nmap Pelt A Tres Soc. n. 57. 43. Thom. Cel. II, n 
sad 44: Be en am sanctae humilitatis virtutem . . Permansit exinde 
Fe ce ad mortem, humilius agens quam aliquis ‘aliorum.” Thom. 
45. ““Nolo videri singularis h 
FEAR re pe a os ee libertatis, ut habeam socium 
verit eis... Vidi iam unum es qui non RR ae 
. . ° . a e a 
Er ‚tineris, ‘et ego volo videri melior illo.” Spec. PER En 
“ 
un Sader een omnem mansuetudinem ostendebat ad omnes 
en EN a 2 ng u A sanctos, inter pecca- 
n 
ome u, n. Er Actus b. Francisci c. 8. bia Nplate acc ee 
ates efile x a) Ay an peccatorum, quoniam si aliquem sceleratum 
Thom. Cel. II, n. 123 CES. Bony oad 5 5 per oe, EON Thoth 
ory, : AD: CHLOE CEOs ec. perf. c. 60. i 
er: TEN Ber IIen?134:7S.Bonavic) 6.n12; re 
„54. "Se pretium conscientiz secretum minuere, lo 
ae abuti quam carere virtutibus.” Thom. Cel. II, n. 130. es Hlord = PER 
n. 8. er Cel. I, n. 95 sq.; II, n. 135-138. 
a Verba Ben, c. eet wed ie Böhmer 49, Lemmens 19. 
‚58. “. .... Latroni tanta contulisset Altissi i 
eis” MC Ins tissimus, gratior te foret, Fran- 
hee : Seat sole Ces ae idee a pluribus, verba huiuscemodi respon- 
: abere : i 
laudandus, cuius incertus est exitus.” TER DEN RT ur Ba 
a LER II, n. 130. 62. Ibid. Ts n233. ; . Francisci, c. 10. 
ne = a one FR an honorem mihi fecisti, quoniam 
iis, tu solus illesa servasti. Separasti, inqua 
as ep vili, sicut discretus homo, Deo laudem, mihi vilitatem FRERRAR, 
ug a n. a 64. Spec. perf. 45. 
: uantum homo in oculis Dei est, tantum est et non Y 
hon est, I plus.” S. Bonav. 
Cc. R n. ne er Bötticher, Das Hohelied vom Rittertum, Berlin 1886, 47-50. ral 
Kr Ben ass , Pepe ns ilium DS de altitudine sinus paterni ad nostra 
ic , ut tam exemplo j i 
huniittem doceet.” rien A ar verbo Dominus et Magister 
; aliter homo iste omnem gloriam, que Chri 
1 t \ : tum non saperet, abiura- 
verat; taliter humanis favoribus et ae a Rao Bethea 
Cel itn 130, ernum irrogaverat anathema.” Thom. 
9. Beatus Franciscus novus i ilitati i i i 
exemplo mirabili preparans .. il RE A ne IL ee 
ac er . ‚ed. . franc. III, 74. 
Be N Are ns gene seipsum, ut fundamentum De 
at... Humilis habitu, humilior sensu, humilli 
tatu. Non discernebatur Dei pri a hale elta 
dis é princeps, quod prelatus esset, nisi hac clarissi 
ET. ner minimus erat.” Thom. Cel. II, 140. es bid. 1, 
BR } .1,n.38.40. 73. Zres Soc.n. 42..:L1 = BR re 
n. 20. 74. De laudibus B. Franc. c. 7. EST EEE 
75: Be historiarum ed. Monum. Germ. hist. Script. t. XXVIII, 41. 
rade th ee sch FR ER Crucifixi et ordo predicatorum, quos 
; I us. ere Minores et omnibus huius temporis re ula- 
er in habitu et nuditate et mundi contemptu humiliores.” Historia Sr 
ib. 2, c. 32, Böhmer, Analekten 102. 


466. «AH ETD EASES tO nes a i AN GETS 


CHAPTER IX 


1. Regula II, c. 1. In substance also Regula I, c. 1. 

2. “Non omnia pro Deo reliquisse dicebat eum, qui sensus proprii loculos 
retineret.”’ Thom. Cel. II, n. 140. 3. See p. 61-73. 4. Tres Soc.n. 57. 5. 
Actus b. franc. c. 2 and 8. 

6. “Dixit enim fratri Petro Catanii, cui pridem obedientiam sanctam pro- 
miserat: Rogo te propter Deum, ut vicem tuam de me uni de sociis meis com- 
mittas, cui sicut tibi devotus obediam. Scio, inquit, obedientie fructum, et 
quod nihil transeat temporis sine lucro, qui alterius iugo colla submiserit. Ad- 
missa igitur sua instantia, usque ad mortem subditus ubique permansit, guar- 
diano proprio semper reverenter obtemperans.” Thom. Cel. II,n.151. 7. Ibid. 
n. 151. 8. Testamentum, ed. Böhmer 38, Lemmens 80. 

9. “ Guardianus eius, qui votum sancti divina verius inspiratione cognovit, .. . 
dixit ad patrem: Tunicam istam et femoralia cum cappellula, obedientiz sanctz 
mandato, a me tibi accomodatam cognoveris... Gaudet Sanctus et iubilat 
pre letitia cordis.”” Thom. Cel. II, n. 215. 10. Tres Soc. n. 42. 11. Thom. 
Cel. I, n. 39. 45. 12. Iord. a Ianon. 18. 13. bid. n. 27. 14. Ibid. n. 47. 

15. Eccleston, De adventu FF. Min. in Angliam coll. I, p. 6. 

-16. “Beatus autem Franciscus videns fratrem /Egidium gratia et virtute 
perfectum et paratum ac promptum ad omne opus bonum, intime diligebat eum 
et de ipso aliis fratribus dicebat: ‘Iste est miles meus tabule rotundae.’” Vita 
fr. Egidii, Anal. franc. Ill, p. 78. 17. Ibid. 18. Ibid. p. 80. 

19. ‘‘Concessas post petitionem proprie licentias dixit, iniunctas vero nec 
postulatas sacras obedientias nominavit. Utramque bonam dicebat, sed aliam 
tutiorem.” Thom. Cell. IT, n. 152. 20. Ibid. 

21. Regula I, c. 4. 5; II, c. 10, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 4. 34, Lemmens 29. 72. 

22. Luke xiv, 33. 23. John xv, 13. 24. Luke ix, 62. 25. Proverbs xxvi, 
11. 26. Verba admon. c. 3, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 42, Lemmens 6 sq. 27. Thom. 
Cel. II, n. 154. 28. Vita b. Agidii 80; Dicta b. Egidii 65-67. 

29. Regula I, c. 5, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 6, Lemmens 32. 30. Dicta b. Aigidii 
65. 66. 

yy “Per caritatem spiritus voluntarie serviant et obediant invicem. Et hc 
est vera et sancta obedientia Domini nostri Iesu Christi.” Regula I, c. 5, Opusc. 
ed. Böhmer 6, Lemmens 32. 32. Opusc. ed. Böhmer 37, Lemmens 79. 33. 
Opusc. ed. Böhmer 65, Lemmens 21. 34. Cf. p. 172 f. 

35. “Et recordarentur ministri et servi, quod dicit Dominus (Matth. xx, 28): 
‘Non veni ministrari, sed ministrare’. . . Similiter omnes fratres non habeant 
aliquam potestatem vel dominationem maxime inter se. Sicut enim dicit Domi- 
nus in Evangelio (Matth. xx, 25): ‘Principes gentium dominantur eorum et 
qui maiores sunt potestatem exercent in eos,’ non sic erit inter fratres, sed ‘qui- 
cumque voluerit inter eos maior fieri, sit eorum minister’ (Matth. xxiii, 11) et 
servus, et ‘qui maior est inter eos, fiat sicut minor’ (Luke xxii, 26).” Regula I, 
c. 4. 5, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 5. 6, Lemmens 29 sq., 31. 

36. Thus, Regula I, c. 4 twice, c. 5 three times, Regula II, c. 10 four times, etc. 

37. “Et nullus vocetur prior...” Regula I, c. 6, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 7, Lem- 
mens 32. 38. See Ducange-Carpent., Glossarium ad Scriptores medie et infime 
latin. s.v. ““Custos” and “‘Guardianus.”’ 39. Thom. Cel. II,n.185. 40. Ibid. 
n. 187. 41. “Per obedientiam itaque raro pracipiendum censuit, nec primo 
fulminandum iaculum, quod esse deberet extremum. Ad ensem, inquit, 
non cito manus mittenda est.” Ibid.n. 153. 

42. Epist. ad fideles, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 53, Lemmens 92. 

43. Regula II, c. 10, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 34, Lemmens 71 sq. 

44. ‘‘Honorari eum [ministrum] vice Christi vellem ab omnibus, et in neces- 
sariis omnibus ipsi cum benevolentia provideri.” Thom. Cel. II, n. 186. ‘Hos 
tamen [ministros] volebat omni honore preveniri et diligi, sicut qui pondus por- 
tarent sollicitudinum et laborum. Summis eos premiis apud Deum dignos 


NOTES 467 


eg qui tali forma talique lege creditas sibi animas gubernarent.” Ibid. 
45. ‘‘Beatus servus, qui ita inventus fuerit i i 
; S uerit inter subditos su icuti 
esset inter dominos suos.” V ee N 
mens te erba admon. c. 23, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 48, Lem- 
46. t ego frater Franciscus rul 
Opusc. ra Böhmer 40, Lemmens 82. ARTE a eet ae 
“ao 
en % nn a per oppositum duplicitati, qua scilicet aliquis aliud 
ee Lu ostendit exterius . . . qua homo unum pretendit et 
em sr iG: . Thomas Aq., Summa theol. 2, 2, Q. 109, a. 2,ad 4. “Veritas 
ee ue er SAYHAnF quia utrique opponitur simulatio.” Ibid. 2, 2 
q. : : . Matth. xviii, 3. ’ Thom. 
oe Hi is 3. 50. Thom. Cel. II, n. 189. 51. Thom. 
es 5 i ; Jet an un habitans, deambulans in latitudine 
itaculum preparabat, et ideo aures eius n 
ea a etree nec vox aliqua excutere poterat seu interrumpere Mibens 
a aes ee Ibid. IL a ati es Tod Ein cen Cs See 
bers. Cc. 01s, 5°: Ibid. II, n 130 TE where EVIL ce ae ney 
5 sat . 56. Ibid. . Ibid. 

PER 2 Bun nn Cel. I, n. 54. SFr onesie pula gah Ore ae 
. Chronica Danorum et precipue Silandie, Lemmens, Testi 7 2 
ee ts . de : : % N Archiv. franc. hist. I, 77. ie Wie grads ee 

: erus de Gysburne, Chronica de gestis regum Angle, L bi 
, Lemm 
ies aes ae Franc. c. 11. He 63. Thom. Cel. II, n. ie ee 
mgr consueverant facere semper, cum veniebant ad e 
. . ” [3 ” ’ um, 
er ers minimam vel primos etiam motus animi occultabant.” oe 
65. “Sic enim eos repleverat sancta simplici i i 
: simplicitas, sic eos innocentia vite - 
ae sic = we puritas possidebat, ut duplicitatem animi penitus ne: 
a nn : 2 . Cf. Thomas de Eccleston coll. IV-VI. ed. Little 30-33 
i 2 ae Thom, Cel. eke XXIV cot Anal. franc. III, 56. 68. Spec. perf. 
# n. 190. 70. atth. xi, 25; xviii, 18, Luk 
71. ‘‘Fratres mei, fratres mei, Dominus vocavit me per RE Hi SE met 
humilitatis, et hanc viam ostendit mihi in veritate pro me et illi ee 
mihi credere et imitari.” Spec. perf. c. 68. R N A 
ce en ae ate Bohmer 39, Lemmens 82 
: c est [sancta simplicitas] que gr&cas glorias non i i 
oe optimas arb 
aes Ct Se discere dr Se Hec est, que nun van 
1 \ ges, ornatus et faleras, ostentationes et curiositate i- 
tare Bauen querit non corticem, sed medullam, non testam sed lese 
Er SER multum, summum et stabile bonum.” Thom. Cel. I, n 189. 
74- x a at 2. 75. Regula I, c. 17, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 16, Lemmens 7. 
4% F hee a fideles, Bere See Bohmer 53, Lemmens 93 ne 
Ree regina sapientia! Deus te salvet cum tua ; impli 
eat haere el t sorore pura sancta simpli- 
ER virtutum, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 64, Lemmens 20; Thom. Cel. 
78. “Volo, inquit, fratres meos disci i i 
Er ; : res meos discipulos evangelicos esse sicque in notiti: 
en en en puritate concrescant, RE 
udentia serpentina non sepa i imi r 
ys wo Par S. Bonaventura is a ae Sr Pee a 
Q. sserebat autem scientiatum ad scientiam Dei facile 
7 5 : it! erventuru 
nn intendens humilis, non presumptuosus netsireresie Thom “Cel 
te ; : ; 
80. ‘Homo cui etsi concessum est litt 
pmo cui etsi con¢ 1 erature dono precellere, pl i 
aan pie simplicitatis imaginem gerat foveatque virtutem.” Phd Be: 
= ce ia en See Base spe rasori dicebat: Cave ne 
3 coronam facias. olo enim, i si i 
habeant a Bean [bid Aha quod fratres mei simplices partem 
2. “Volebat denique religionem pauperibus et illitteratis, non solum diviti- 


48 THEIDEALSOFST.FRANCIS 


bus et sapientibus esse communem. Apud Deum, inquit, non est acceptio 
personarum, et generalis minister religionis, Spiritus Sanctus, que super pau- 
perem et simplicem requiescit. Hoc sane verbum voluit in Regula ponere, sed 
bullatio facta preclusit.” Jbid. n. 193. 

83. “Hanc [sanctam simplicitatem] in fratribus litteratis et laicis requirebat 
pater sanctissimus.” Jbid.n. 189. 84. Ibid. n. 192. 


CHAPTER X 


1. “Inter alias virtutes, quas diligebat et desiderabat in fratribus post funda- 
mentum sancte humilitatis, diligebat precipue pulchritudinem et munditiam 
honestatis.” Spec. pref..c. 86. 

2. “Qux mulier totius honestatis amica quoddam virtutis insigne preferebat 
in moribus, sanctz iliius Elisabeth, tam impositione nominis ad filium quam et 
spiritu prophetali, aliquo similitudinis privilegio gaudens.”” Thom. Cel. IT, n. 3. 

“Nam Francisci magnanimitatem et morum honestatem admirantibus 
convicinis, quasi divino instructa oraculo sic aiebat: Quid putatis iste filius 
meus erit? Meritorum gratia Dei filium ipsum noveritis affuturum.” Ibid. 4. 
Tres Soc. n. 3. 

5. “Rigidus in disciplina super custodiam suam stabat, curam permaximam 
gerens de utriusque hominis puritate servanda.” S. Bonav. c. 5, n. 3. 

6. “Si qua, ut assolet, carnis tentatio eum quandoque pulsaret, in quadam 
fovea glacie plena, cum hiems existeret, se mergebat, in ea tam diu persistens, 
quoadusque carnalis omnis recederet corruptela.” Thom. Cel. I, n. 42. 

7. “Tolerabilius viro spirituali fore incomparabiliter asserebat magnum sus- 
tinere frigus in carne, quam ardorem carnalis libidinis vel modicum sentire in 
mente.” S. Bonav. ibid. 8. Bern. a Bessa c. 5. 

4 5 Vita fratris Leonis, Chron. XXIV Gen., Anal. franc. III, 68; Bern. a Bessa 
thid. 

to. ‘‘O quam pulcher, quam gloriosus apparebat in vite innocentia, in puri- 
tate cordis, in aspectu angelico!”’ Thom. Cel. I, n. 83. 11. Thom. Cel. II, n. 
112. 12. Ibid.n. 114. 13. Ibid. n. 112. 

14. ‘‘Fateor veritatem, carissime, nullam me si aspicerem recogniturum in 
facie, nisi duas. [Illius, inquit, et illius vultus cognitus est, alterius nescio.” 
(hid. 15. Ibid. n. 114. 

16. “.... Ex nimia securitate minus cavetur hostis. Diabolus si de suo ca- 
pillum potest habere in homine, cito illum excrescere facit in trabem. Nec si per 
multos annos deiicere non potuit, quem tentavit, moram causatur, dummodo 
sibi cedat in fine. Hoc est enim opus suum, nec est ad alia die noctuque sol- 
licitus.” Jbid. n. 113. 17. Matth. v, 28. 

18. Regula I, c. 12, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 13, Lemmens 41. 

19. Regula II, c. 11, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 35, Lemmens 73. 

ao. ‘Nolo, quod aliquis ad visitandum eas spontaneum se offerat; sed invitos 
et plurimum renitentes iubeo i ipsarum servitiis deputari, spirituales dumtaxat 
viros, digna et longeva conversatione probatos.” Thom. Cel. II, 205. 21. Ibid. 
n. 206. 22. Ibid. n. 205. 207. 

23. ‘Unum atque eundem spiritum, dicens, fratres et dominas illas pauper- 
culas de hoc s&culo eduxisse.” Ibid.n. 204. 24. Ibid.n. 205. 

25. Forma vivendi sororibus s. Clare data, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 35, Lemmens 75. 

26. ‘‘. . . promisit eis et aliis paupertatem in simili conversatione profiten- 
tibus firmiter suum et fratrum suorum auxilium et consilium perpetuo exhibere. 
Hec semper, dum vixit, diligenter exsolvit, et fieri semper, cum morti proximus 
esset, non negligenter mandavit.” Thom. Cel. II, n. 204. Cf. Thom. Cel. II, 
n. 116 sq.; Spec. perf. c. go. 

27. ‘“‘Iacoba de Septem Soliis, claritate et sanctitate pari in urbe romana, 
privilegium amoris precipui meruerat apud sanctum.” Thom. Cel., Tract. de 
miraculis n. 37. 


NOTES 469 


28. “Domina Jacoba eum ardenter dilexerat exsulem.” Ibid. 29. Ibid. 
n. 37-39. 30. See especially Mark vi, 12; Luke v, 32; Acts xxvi, 20. 

31. Among the many proofs the following is particularly relevant: “Fran- 
ciscus hortabatur omnes, ut amarent et timerent Deum atque poenitentiam 
agerent de peccatis ar . Qui vero eos audiebant dicebant: Qui sunt isti, et que 
dicunt? Erat enim tune amor et timor Dei quasi ubique exstinctus et via 
peenitentie penitus nesciebatur, imo stultitia reputabatur. Nam in tam preva- 
luerat carnis illecebra, mundi cupiditas, superbia vita, quod totus mundus in 
his tribus malignitatibus positus videbatur.” Tres Socii, n. 33 sq. 

32. “. . . viri poenitentiales de Assisio.” bid. n. 58. 

33. ‘‘Dominus ita dedit mihi fratri Francisco incipere facere poenitentiam.” 
Testam., Opusc. ed. Böhmer 36, Lemmens 77. 

34. ‘‘Cernebant eum a pristinis moribus alteratum et carnis maceratione 
valde confectum, et ideo totum quod agebat exinanitioni et dementie imputa- 
bant.”” Thom. Cel. I,n.11r. 35. S. Bonav. c. 2, n. 4. 

36. ‘‘Parat sibi ex tunc tunicam crucis imaginem preferentem, ut in ea pro- 
pulset omnes dzmoniacas phantasias: parat asperrimam et incultam, et que a 
mundo nullatenus valeat concupisci.”” Thom. Cel. I, n. 22. 37. S. Bonav. c. 
+ aa: 2. 38. Ibid. 39. Eccleston, De Adventu Fratrum Minorum in Angliam 

13, P. 91. 

40. “Accubitum vero suum, ubique receptus hospitio, nullis sinebat stramentis 
seu vestibus operiri, sed nuda humus, tunicula interposita, nuda suscipiebat 
membra; cum quandoque corpusculum suum somni beneficio recrearet, sepius 
sedens, nec aliter se deponens, dormiebat, pro cervicali ligno vel lapide utens.”’ 
Thom. Cel. I, n. 52. Cf. C. Bonav. ibid. ‘‘Vestitus etiam de nocte dormi- 
vit, mattam pro stratu cubiculi habuit, saccum capiti pro cervicali supposuit 
cuculla solummodo et cilicio, quibus in die vestitus incessit, pro nocturnalibus, 
operimentis contentus.” Rogeri de Wendover, Chronica maiora, ap. Lemmens, 
Testimonia minora seculi XIII, Archiv. franc. I, 81. 

41. “Tanta discipline rigiditate sensuales appetitus arcebat, ut vix neces- 
saria sumeret sustentationi nature.” S. Bonav. c. 5, n. 1. 

42. ‘“‘Impossibile namque fore, aiebat, satisfacere necessitati et voluptati non 
obedire.” Thom. Cel. I, n. 51. 43. Actus b. Francisci c. 6. 44. Luke x, 7 

45. Thom. Cel. ibid.; Iulian. de Spira, Leg. n. 32; Tres Soc. n. 14 sa. 

46. “Homo habens animal suum, quamvis multum laboret magna deferens 
onera et quamvis ipsum bene pasceret, tamen per viam non recte vadit sine 
virga correctionis; sic est de corpore penitentis.” Dicta 6. Aigidit 31. 

47. “Exinde se tanta carnis maceratione afflixit, quod sanus et infirmus 
corpori suo nimis austerus existens, vix aut nunquam sibi voluit indulgere.”’ 
Tres Soc. n. 14. 

48. ‘Nunquam parcebat corpori Christi strenuus miles, exponens illud, tam- 
quam alienum a se, omnibus tam operum quam verborum iniuriis.” Thom. 
Cel. II, n. 21. 49. Thom. Cel. II, n. 116 sq. 

50. ‘“‘Tanta enim in eo carnis ad spiritum erat concordia, tanta obedientia, 
quod cum ille omnem niteretur apprehendere sanctitatem, ipsa nihilominus 
non solum non repugnabat, sed et pracurrere satagebat, iuxta quod scriptum 
est (Ps. lvii, 2): Sitivit in te anima mea, quam multipliciter tibi caro mea.” 
Thom. Cel. I, n. 97. ‘‘Nam et calor spiritus ita iam levigaverat corpus, ut 
anima sitiente in Deum, sitiret et quam multipliciter caro illa sanctissima.” 
Ibid. II, n. 129. 

51. “‘Assiduitas vero subiectionis fecerat eam voluntariem, et ex cotidiana 
inclinatione sui situm apprehenderat tante virtutis, quoniam consuetudo saepe 
vertitur ae naturam.” Jbid. I, n. 97. 52. See p. 35 ff. 53. Thom. Cel. II, 
n. 210. . hid. n. 211. 

Se, Die mortis eius instante confessus est, se multum peccasse in fratrem 
corpus.” Tres Soc.n. 14. 

56. Verba admon. c. 10, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 45, Lemmens 11. 

57. ‘‘Sanctus Franciscus quotidianam, immo continuam sui et suorum inquisi- 
tionem diligentissime faciebat, et nil in eis residere patiens lubricum, ab ipsorum 


- 


470 SL: HIEFNDIEAIE STOSS H ES REIN 5 


cordibus omnem negligentiam abigebat . . . Docebat eos non solum mortificare 
vitia et carnis incentiva reprimere, verum etiam et ipsos exteriores sensus, per 
quos mors intrat ad animam.” Thom. Cel. I, n, 42 sq. 

58. Thomas of Celano is no doubt in error when he states that Otto IV passed 
‘through Assisi on his way to Rome. (Thom. Cel. I, n. 43). The Emperor 
chose the Via Aemilia and Flaminia from Faenza in order to reach Rome (Böh- 
mer-Ficker, Reg. Imperat. ad a, 1209, p. 96). On his return from Rome, how- 
ever, he stopped at Foligno and Terni and thus had to touch Assisi. 59. Thom. 
Cel. I, n. 43. 

60. “Et quidem tantze mortificationis exemplum ceteri ferventissime seque- 
bantur.” Jbid. I, n. 42. 

61. “‘Sicetiam et totailla prima schola sua omnibus se subdebat incommodis ut 
nefas duceretur si quis in aliquo alio quam in consolatione spiritus respiraret.”’ 
Ibid. II, n. 21. 

62. ‘‘Fratres Minores vere possunt inter discipulos Domini computari, quia 
spernentes s&cularia desideria carnem suam macerant et tormentant et Christum 
nudis pedibus et cilicio induti sequuntur.” Rhetorica antiqua, apud Schönbach, 
Wien 1903. 

63. “Aut propter summam perfectionem Domino adheserunt, aut certe 
insani sunt, quia desperata videtur eorum via, cum parco cibo utantur et nudis 

“ pedibus ambulent atque vilissimis vestibus sunt induti.” Tres Soc. n. 34. 

64. ‘Per viam crucis et semitas iustitie incedentes de arcta via poenitentie 
et observationis evangelice offendicula removebant, ut posteris iter planum 
fierit.” Jbid.n. 45. 

65. Thom. Cel. I, n. 39-41. Cf. Thom. Cel. I, n. 20; II, n. 21; Anonym. 
Perusin. n. 23; Iordan. a Iano n. 21; Eccleston, De adventu fratrum Min. in 
Angliam ed. Little p. 8-10. 15. 28. 43 sq.; Vita S. Clare c. 3, n. 17 sqq.; Vita 
fr. Egidii p. 78 sq. 88. 

66. ‘Nam cum circulis ferreis et loricis se cingerent et vestirent, vigiliis 
multis et ieiuniis maceratis continuis, multoties defecissent, nisi pii patris moni- 
tione assidua rigorem tantze abstinentie relaxassent.” Thom. Cel. II, n. 21. 

67. ‘Hoc solo documento dissona fuit manus a lingua in patre sanctissimo. 
Corpus enim suum utique innocens flagellis et penuriis subigebat, multiplicans 
ei vulnera sine causa.” Thom. Cel. II, n.129. 68. Spec. perf. c. 27. 

69. “Arguebat preterea pius pater fratres suos, qui nimis erant sibi ipsis 
austeri, vigiliis et ieiuniis et corporalibus exercitiis nimium insudantes... Quos 
vir Dei prohibebat, admonens eos benigne et rationabiliter reprehendens atque 
‘ipsorum vulnera alligans salutarium vinculis preceptorum.” Tres Soc. n. 59. 
The Spec. perf. c. 27 states that Francis on this occasion forbade girdles and 
other instruments of penance, and ordained that the Friars should wear nothing 
but the habit on the body. The Fioretti c. 18 locates this incident at the so- 
called Chapter of the Mats, and plainly exaggerates the narrative of the Three 
Companions and of the Speculum perfectionis thus: ‘St. Francis commanded 
under holy obedience as: “prudent father that everyone who wore a spiked shirt 
or iron rings should remove them and place them before him. This was done. 
Thus well-nigh five hundred spiked shirts and many more rings for arms and 
body were counted. A whole mountain of them was piled together, and St. 
Francis commanded them to let them lie.” 

70. Thom. Cel. II, n. 129. Cf. Spec. perf. c. 97. 

71. Eccleston, De adventu coll. XIV, p. 106. 

Pee . Sale conditum sacrificium Deo semper reddere iubet, et, ut vires 
proprias in "Dei obsequio unusquisque consideret, monet attente. Peccatum 
simile asserit, indiscrete corpori subtrahere debitum, sicut imperante gula ei 
exhibere superfluum.” Ibid. TT, n. 22. Cf. Spec. perf. c. 27. In the same 
manner St. Clare admonishes her spiritual daughter Agnes of Prague (A Cha ke, 
Martii t. I, 507 B): “A nimio abstinentie rigore, quem te sectari cognovi, 
abstinere te vehementer in Domino rogo: ut vivens et sperans in Domino, ra- 
ate obsequium exhibeas et holocaustum tuum sale prudenti sit conditum.”’ 

. “Docuit eos insuper discretionem sequi ut aurigam virtutum, non eam, 


NOTES 471 


quam caro suadet, sed quam edocuit Christus, cuius sacratissimam vitam 
expressum constat esse perfectionis exemplar.’’ S. Bonav. c. 5, n. 7. 

74. Cf. S. Columbani Regula cenobialis c. 10, Migne, Patrol. lat. t. 80, 216-224. 

75. “‘Ideoque quoties pueri vel‘adolescentiores etate aut qui minus intelligere 
possunt, quanta poena sit excommunicationis: hi tales dum delinquunt aut 
leiuniis nimiis aflligantur aut acribus verberibus coerceantur, ut sanentur.’ 
S. P. Benedicti Regula c. 30, Migne, Patrol. lat. t. 66, 533. 

76. ‘Si autem [quis frater] improbus est, vindictze corporali subdatur. . . 
Si quis frater frequenter correptus pro qualibet culpa, si etiam excommunicatus, 
non emendaverit, acrior ei accedat correptio, id est, ut verberum vindicta in eum 
procedat.”’ Ibid. c. 23. 28, Migne, t. 66, 501.519. 

77. “Statutum est, ne staminiz [woolen shirts], que ex more antiquo propter 
graviora quelibet fratribus acrius flagellandis scindi solebant et usque ad cingu- 
lum violenter detrahi, ulterius scinderentur, sed staminia integra manente, 
verberibus subiiciendus frater ea ex toto exueretur.”’ Petri Venerabilis Statuta 
Congregat. Cluniacensis 53, Migne, Patrol. lat. t. 189, 1043. 

Man ey Denudatus, ut dignam suis meritis accipiat sententiam, vapulet, 
quantum placuerit prelato . Et si placuerit ei [prelato], denuo ‚vapulet ad 
pedes singulorum, primo prelati, deinde utriusque lateris sessorum.” Constitu- 
tiones antique ordinis fratrum predicatorum I. dist. 23, ed. Denifle. 

79. Regula I, c. 5, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 5, Lemmens 31. Similarly Regula II, 
e ye Opus. ed. Böhmer 33, Lemmens 69. 

. “Si quis fratrum diabolo instigante fornicaretur, habitu ordinis exuatur, 
es ex sua turpi iniquitate amisit, et ex toto deponat et a nostra religione 
penitus expellatur. Et postea poenitentiam faciat de peccatis suis.” Regula 
I, c. 13, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 13, Lemmens 42. 

81. In the third chapter of both rules Francis prescribes fasting from All Saints 
until Christmas, from Epiphany until Easter and on all Fridays of the year. 
For the Poor Clares he prescribed (according to a letter of St. Clare to Bl. Agnes 
of Prague, Act. SS., Marti t. 507 A-B) continual fasting, except during the 
Paschal season, on Sundays, feast days, and the ordinary Thursdays (Gregory 
IX annulled even these exemptions, but Innocent IV amplified them consider- 
ably: Bullar. francisc. I, 265. 396. 478). This greater severity in regard to 
the Poor Clares may be perhaps explained from the fact that they were not 
destined for the arduous labors of the Apostolate. — The older statutes of the 
Dominican Order of 1228 (ibid. dist. I, 8, p. 198) prescribe fasting from Sept. 15 
until Easter and on all Fridays. The Benedictine rule (c. 41) ordains fasting 
from Sept. 13 until Easter and on Wednesdays and Fridays from Pentecost until 
Sept. 13. St. Columba commands uninterrupted fasting: ‘‘Ergo quotidie 
ieiunandum est, sicut quotidie orandum est, quotidie laborandum, quotidieque 
est legendum.” (Reg. cenobial. c. 3, Migne, Patrol. lat. t. 80, 211.) 

82. Outside the fasting season Francis, like all other Founders, allowed two 
meals, at noon and in the evening, according to the express declaration of St. 
Clare, ibid 

83. Meat was allowed only to the sick, e. g. according to the rule of St. Bene- 
dict, c. 39, also the Constitutiones antique fratrum predicatorum dist. I, 11. 
Columba prescribes outright: ‘‘Cibus sit vilis et vespertinus monachorum, 
satietatem fugiens et potus ebrietatem; ut et sustineat et non noceat. Olera, 
legumina, farina aquis mixta, cum parvo panis paximatio, ne venter oneretur 
et mens suffocetur.” 

84. ‘‘Secundum primam regulam fratres omni carnali feria carnes comede- 
bant.” Jordan. a Iano n. 11. 

85. Luke x, 8. 86. Opusc. ed. Böhmer 4.31, Lemmens 29.67. 

87. ‘““Isti vicarii [frater Mattheus de Narnio et frater Gregorius de Neapoli] 
cum quibusdam fratribus senioribus Italie unum capitulum celebrarunt, in quo 
statuerunt, ut fratres diebus carnalibus procuratis non uterentur, sed tantum 
sponte a fidelibus oblatas manducarent.” Jordan. a Jano n. 11. 

88. ‘‘Constitutionibus perlectis cum beatus Franciscus esset in mensa et 
carnes appositas ad manducandum coram se haberet, dixit fratri Petro: ‘Domine 


472 VW IHERLDIE AGS EO} Ee TITANIC 


Petre, quid faciemus?’ Et ille respondit: “Fa, Domine Francisce, quod vobis 
placet, quia potestatem habetis vos.’ ... Et sic tandem beatus Franciscus 
intulit: ‘Comedamus ergo secundum evangelium que nobis apponuntur.’ ” 
Jordan. a Iano n. 12. 


CHAPTER XI 


1. “Naturaliter erat hilaris et iocundus.” Tres Soc. n. 4. 

2. “Hic postquam fuit adultus et subtilis ingenii factus, artem patris, id est 
negotiationem exercuit. Sed dissimiliter valde, quoniam ipse hilarior et libera- 
lior, deditus iocis et cantibus . . . iuvenis iocundus.” Tres Soc. 2. 3. 

3. “In eodem indumento pannum valde carum panno vilissimo consui 
en ” Tres Soc.n. 2. 4. Thom. Cel. I, n. 1-3; Il, n. 7; Tres Soc. n. 1-2. 

“Admirationi omnibus erat, et in pompa van gloria preire czteros nite- 
batur, in iocis, in curiosis, in scurrilibus et inanibus verbis, in cantilenis.’’ Thom. 
Cel., Ir 2. 6. Das Ritierwesen des Mittelalters, Klüber, Nürnberg 1786, I. Bd. 
41 7 “Car d’armes est li mestier tiex. Bruit es chans et joie a l’ostel.” /bid. 

an videbatur tristari, sed quodammodo jucundare . . . letabatur in 
ee constitutus.”” Zres Soc. n. 4. 9. “Tantoque deinceps repletus est 
gaudio, quod non se capiens pre letititia, etiam nolens ad aures hominum 
aliquid eructabat.”” Thom. Cel. I, n. 7. 

10. “In his, que prius horrebas, hauries magnam dulcedinem et suavitatem 
immensam. Gavisus ergo in his et in Domino confortatus . . .” Tres Soc. n. 11. 

11. Tres Soc. n. 13. 12. Thom. Cel. I, n. 16. 13. Thom. Cel. I, n. 93; II, n. 125. 

14. “In hoc autem summum et precipuum studium habuit beatus Franciscus, 
ut extra orationem haberet continue interius et exterius letitiam spiritualem.” 
Spec. perf. c. 95. 

15. ‘Cum magno fervore spiritus et gaudio mentis coepit omnibus pceniten- 
tiam predicare.””’ Thom. Cel. I, n. 23. 16. Ibid. n. 36 sq. 17. Legenda 
minor, ed. a PP. Collegii S. Bonaventure, Ad Claras Aquas 1808, 236. 

18. ‘“Dulcissima melodia spiritus intra ipsum ebulliens exterius gallicum dabat 
sonum, et vena divini susurrii, quam auris eius suscipiebat furtive, gallicum 
erumpebat in iubilum.” Thom. Cel. II, n.127. 19. Ibid. 20. Tres Soc.n. 22. 

21. ‘‘O martyr et martyr, qui ridens et gaudens libentissime tolerabat, quod 
erat omnibus acerbissimum et gravissimum intueri.”’ Thom. Cel. I, n. 107. 

22. Ibid. n. 213. 23. Paul Wilhelm von Keppler, Mehr Freude, Freiburg i. 
Br. 1909,122. 24. Thom.Cel.I,n.109. Spec. perf.c. 121. 25. Spec. perf. ibid. 

26. Thom. Cel. I, n. 109. 27. “‘Tutissimum remedium contra mille inimici 
insidias vel astutias letitiam spiritualem sanctus iste affirmabat.’”’ Thom. 
Cel. II, n. 125. 28. Ibid. 

29. ‘‘Non decet servum Dei tristem vel turbulentum se monstrare hominibus, 
sed semper honestum. Offensas tuas in tuo cubiculo discute, et coram Deo tuo 
lacrimare et ingemisce. Cum redis ad fratres, moerore deposito, ceteris confor- 
mare.” Ibid.n. 128. Cf. Spec. perf. c. 96. 

30. ‘Multum invident mihi emuli salutis humane, et semper conantur quem 
in me non possunt, in sociis conturbare.” Ibid. 

31. Matth. vi, 16. By “‘hypocrites’’ Christ means the Pharisees. 

32. “‘Et caveant fratres, quod non se ostendant tristes extrinsecus et nubilosos 
hypocritas; sed ostendant se gaudentes in Domino et hilares et convenienter 
gratiosos.” Regula I, c. 7, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 8, Lemmens 34. Kybal regards 
this passage as a part of the primitive Franciscan rule. 

33. “‘Tantum autem diligebat virum spirituali letitia plenum, quod pro gene- 
rali commonitione in quodam capitulo scribi fecit hec verba: Caveant fratres, 
ne se ostendant extrinsecus nubilosos . . .” Thom. Cel. II, n. 128. 

34. “Quanta autem tunc temporis [at the Chapter of the Mats in 1221] inter 
fratres fuerit caritas, patientia, humilitas et obedientia et fraterna iocunditas, 
quis valet explicare?’’ Iord. a Iano n. 16, 


NiO EIS 473 


35. ‘‘Homines autem illius religionis semel in anno cum multiplici lucro ad 
locum determinatum conveniunt, ut simul in Domino gaudeant et epulentur, et 
consilio bonorum virorum suas faciunt et promulgant institutiones sanctas et a 
domino papa confirmatas.” Epistula data Ianu® a. 1216, Octob., Böhmer, 
Analekten 98. 

36 “... ut irent per mundum predicando et cantando Laudes Domini. 
Dicebat enim, quod volebat, ut ille, qui sciret, predicaret populo, et post pre- 
dicationem omnes cantarent simul Laudes Domini tamquam ioculatores 
Domini.” Spec. perf. c. 100. 

37. ‘Quid enim sunt servi Dei, nisi quidam ioculatores eius [Domini] qui 
corda hominum erigere debent et movere ad letitiam spiritualem?” Ibid. 

38. ‘“Verum spiritualem amplectens letitiam, ineptam studiose vitabat, sciens 
ferventer diligendum, quod perficit, nec minus vigilanter, quod inficit, fugien- 
dum.” Thom. Cel. II, n. 130. 39. Jbid. n. 130 sqq. 

40. “Non quod intelligendum sit vel credendum, quod pater noster omnis 
maturitatis et honestatis amator voluerit hanc letitiam ostendi per risum vel 
etiam per minimum verbum vanum, quum per hoc non letitia spiritualis sed 
vanitas et fatuitas potius ostendatur, imo et in servo Dei risum et verbum 
otiosum singulariter abhorrebat.”’ Spec. perf. c. 189. 

41. ‘‘Beatus ille religiosus, qui non habet iucunditatem et letitiam nisi in 
sanctissimis eloquiis et operibus Domini et cum his perducit homines ad amorem 
Dei in gaudio et letitia. Et ve illi religioso, qui delectat se in verbis otiosis et 
inanibus et cum his perducit homines ad risum.”’ Verba admon. Opusc. ed. 
Böhmer 47, n. 20, Lemmens 15, n. 21. 42. See Chapter X, p. 221 ff. 

43. ‘‘Frater Petrus de Teukesbury, minister Alemannize . . . dixit fratri pre- 
dicatori: ‘Tria sunt necessaria ad salutem temporalem, cibus, somnus et iocus.’ 
Item iniunxit fratri melancholico, ut biberet calicem plenum optimo vino pro 
pcenitentia, et cum ebibisset, licet invitissime, dixit ei: ‘Frater carissime, si 
haberes frequenter talem poenitentiam, haberes utique meliorem conscientiam.’”’ 
Thom. de Eccleston, coll. XV, p. 115. 44. Thom. Cel. II, n. 126. 

45. Cf. Felder, Geschichte der wissenschaftlichen Studien im Franziskanerordern, 
Freiburg, Herder 1904, 426-447. 

46. “Vocavit unum de sociis, qui fuerat in seculo citharista, dicens: Frater, 
filii seculi huius divina non intelligunt sacramenta. Instrumenta quippe musica, 
divinis quondam laudibus deputata, in aurium voluptatem libido humana con- 
vertit.” Thom. Cel. II. n. 126. 47. Cf. p. 233. 

48. ‘‘Frater Iuniperus egregius Domini popaleton, quia calida sepe verba de 
Domino eructabat.” Thom. Cel., Vita S. Clare c. 6, n. 51. 

49. Vita fr. Egidii, Anal. franc. III, 105 sq. 

5o. “Morbum accidie pessimum summa cura vitabat, ita cum vel parum 
menti illapsum sentiret, ad orationem, citissime curreret.” Thom. Cel. II, n. 125. 

51. ‘Servus Dei pro aliquo, ut assolet, conturbatus illico surgere ad orationem 
debet, et tamdiu coram summo Patre persistere, donec reddat ei sui salutaris 
letitiam. Si enim in meestitia fecerit moram, adolescet babilonicum illud, quod 
tandem nisi per lacrimas expurgetur, mansuram generabit in corde rubiginem.” 
Thom. Cel. IT, n. 125. 52. Tres Soc.n: 32. 53. Ibid. n. 33. 54. Ibid. n. 39. 

55. Ibid.n.41. 56. Ibid.n.45. 57. Thom.Cel.I,n.35. 58. Keppler loc. cit. 

59. “Cum magna penuria de duabus buccellis panis et septem rapis malum 
famis misere et sitim gaudio cordis temperabant, immo potius provocabant. Et 
collatione habita inter se, quomodo ventrem vacuum implere possent..., 
decreverunt, ut de aqua puri fluentis pretereuntis biberent, ne venter vacuus 
murmuraret.” Jord. a. Ianon. 21. 60. Eccleston coll. I, p. 8 sq. 

61. ‘‘Fuerunt tamen fratres omni tempore inter se ita iocundi et leti, ut vix 
in aspectu mutuo se temperarent a risu.” /bid.p. 32. 62. Thom. Cel. II, n. 76. 

63. Thom. Cel. I, n. 34; Spec. perf. c.90. 64. Verba admon. n. 27, Opusc. ed. 
Böhmer 49, Lemmens 18. 65. See p. 230 f!: 66. Tres Soc.n. 22. 

67. Tres Soc. c. 10, ed. Amoni p. 62. This passage is not in the edition of 
Faloci-Pulignani. 

68. Actus b. Francisci c. 7. This poetic narrative of the Actus-Fioretti no 


474 THEIDEALS OF ST. FRANCIS 


doubt has its source in the older historical version discovered lately by P. Bughetti, 
O. F. M., in a MS. of the Biblioteca Nazionale at Florence: see Facchinetti, 
S. Francesco d’Assisi, Milano 1921, 177 sq. 


CHAPTER XII 


1. Matth. xxiii, 8. 2. Cf. S. Columbani Regula cenobialis c. 10; S. Bene- 
dicti Regula c. 21 sqq. 

3. The word “Frater” is found in the first rule of St. Francis at least one 
hundred and four times, in the much shorter second rule forty-seven times, in the 
Testament twelve times; similarly in other writings of the Saint. The rule of 
the Order is called ‘‘regula et vita Minorum Fratrum”’ (e.g. in the beginning of 
the second rule). The Order itself is called by Francis with preference “ Frater- 
nitas” (in the first rule three times, in the second four times, in the Testament 
twice, etc.); however, we also read in Thom. Cel. I, n. 38: ‘“‘Ordinem Fratrum 
Minorum primitus ipse plantavit et ea scilicet occasione hoc ei nomen im- 
posuit . . . Volo, inquit, ut Ordo Fratrum Minorum fraternitas hec vocetur.” 

4. “Et nullus vocetur Prior, sed generaliter omnes vocentur Fratres Minores.” 
Regula I, c. 6. 

5. The passage (Matth. xxiii, 8-10) is quoted literally in the first rule, ch. 22, 
thus: ‘‘Omnes autem vos fratres estis; et patrem nolite vocare vobis super 
terram, unus est enim Pater vester, qui in coelis est. Nec vocemini magistri; 
unus est enim Magister vester, qui in ccelis est, Christus.” 

6. Thom. Cel. IT, n. 180. 191. 

7. “Domina sancta caritas, Dominus te salvet . . . Sancta caritas confundit 
omnes diabolicas et carnales tentationes et omnes carnales timores.” Salutatio 
virtutum, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 64 sq., Lemmens 20 sq. 8. John xv, 12. 9. 1 
John iii, 18. 

10. Regula I, c. 5. 7. 11; II, c. 6, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 6, 8. 12. 21, Lemmens 
32. 34. 40. 69. 

11. Regula I, c. 6; Il, c. 7; De religiosa habitatione in eremo, Opusc. ed. Böh- 
mer 7. 33. 67, Lemmens 32. 70. 83; Thom. Cel. I, n. 98; II, n. 177. 184 sq. 12. 
Luke xvii, 10. 13. Luke v, 22. 14. Cf. Matth. vii, 3 and Luke vi, 41. 

15. Regula I, c. 5. 11, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 6. 12, Lemmens 32. 40 sq. 

16. Verba admon. n. 8, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 44, Lemmens 10. 

17. “Demum cum animus caritate repletus Deo odibiles odiat, vigebat 
istud in sancto Francisco. Detrectatores quippe super aliud vitiosorum genus 
horribiliter exsecrans, venenum in lingua ferre eos dicebat aliosque veneno 
inficere.””’ Thom. Cel. II, n. 182. 

18. “Ideoque rumigerulos pulicesque mordaces, si quando loquerentur, 
vitabat avertebatque prout vidimus aures, ne tali polluerentur auditu.”’ Ibid. 

19. Ibid. 20. Ibid. 21. Ibid. n. 183. 

22. ‘‘Revera super constantie fundamentum caritatis nobilis structura sur- 
rexit, in qua vivi lapides, ex omnibus mundi partibus coacervati, edificati sunt 
in habitaculum Spiritus Sancti. O quanto caritatis ardore flagrabant novi 
Christi discipuli! Quantus in eis piz societatis vigebat amor! Cum enim ali- 
cubi pariter convenirent, vel in via, ut moris est, sibi invicem obviarent, ibi 
spiculum spiritalis resultabat amoris, super omnem amorem vere dilectionis 
seminarium spargens. Quid illud? Casti amplexus, suaves affectus, osculum 
sanctum, dulce colloquium, risus modestus, aspectus iucundus, oculus simplex, 
animus supplex, lingua placabilis, responsio mollis, idem propositum, promptum 
obsequium et indefessa manus . . . Desiderabiliter conveniebant, delectabilius 
simul erant; sed gravis erat utrinque separatio socialis, amarum divortium, 
acerba disiunctio.”” Thom. Cel. I, n. 38 sq. ‘‘Hoc solummodo suavissimum 
cordis eorum contristare videbatur affectum, quod ab invicem separari opor- 
tebat. Unde frequenter usque ad partes remotas fratres recedentes conduce- 
bant, et effusis abunde in recessu lacrymis affectionis idem mutuo demonstra- 


NOTES 475 


bant.” Thom. de Eccleston coll. V, p. 33. “Quando autem se invicem revidebant, 
tanta iucunditate replebantur et ‘gaudio, ac si nihil recordarentur eorum, que 
passi fuerant ab iniquis. . . Amore intime se diligebant, et serviebant unus 
alteri, ac nutriebant eum, sicut mater filium unicum et dilectum.” Tres Soe. n. 41. 

23. “Et quidem cum cuncta terrena despicerent et se ipsos nunquam amore 
privato diligerent, totius affectum in communi refundentes, se ipsos dare in 
pretium satagebant, ut fraterne necessitati subvenirent.” Thom. Cel. I, n. 
39. ‘*Tantum caritatis ardebat in eis, quod facile eis videbatur tradere corpora 
sua morti non solum pro Christi amore, sed etiam pro salute anime vel cor- 
porum suorum fratrum.”’ Tyres Soc.n. 41. 24. Ibid. n. 42. 

25. Thom. Cel. II, n. 155; Spec. perf. c. 51. 

26. Tres Soc. n. 43; Thom. Cel. ibid. The Three Companions state expressly: 
“ut pedem fratris turbati faceret poni super os suum,”’ while Thom. Cel. (and 
Spec. perf.) writes: “ut lesi pedem vel inviti beatis osculis demulceret.” 

27. Iord. a Iano n. 55. 28. Thom. de Eccleston coll. VII, p. 44. 29. Ibid. 
coll. II, p. 10. 30. Thom. Cel., Vita S. Clare c. 5, n. 38, p. 762. 

31. “‘Precipua namque ante omnia in eis viget virtus mutuz ac continue 
Caritatis, quae ita ipsarum in unam copulat voluntates, ut cum vel quadraginta 
vel quinquaginta pariter alicubi ,commorentur, idem velle et idem nolle unum 
in eis spiritus faciat de diversis.” Thom. Cel. I, n. 19. 

32. ‘Sanctus Franciscus vero de tanti viri adventu et conversione gavisus 
est valde . Beatus igitur Franciscus consolatione et gratia Spiritus Sancti 
quotidie replebatur, omnique vigilantia et sollicitudine novos filios novis institu- 
tionibus informabat.”’ Thom. Cel. I, n. 25. 26. 

33. “At illi, cum gaudio et letitia multa suscipientes obedientiz sancte man- 
datum, coram sancto Francisco supplices se prosternebant in terram; ipse vero 
amplexans eos dulciter et devote dicebat singulis: Iacta cogitatum tuum in 
Domino, et ipse te enutriet. Hoc verbum dicebat, quoties ad obedientiam 
fratres aliquos transmittebat.”’ Ibid.n. 29. 34. Ibid. n. 30 sq. 

35. “‘Curialissimus erat.”’ Ibid.n. ı7. ‘O quam pulcher, quam splendidus, 
quam gloriosus apparebat . . . in simplicitate verborum . . . in charitate fra- 
terna . . . in concordi obsequio, in aspectu angelico! Dulcis in moribus, 
natura placidus, affabilis in sermone, commodissimus in exhortatione, fidelis- 
simus in commisso, providus in consilio, . . . gratiosus in omnibus. Mente 
serenus, animo dulcis . . . rigidus in se, pius in aliis . . . omnium moribus 
utiliter se conformans.” Jbid.n. 83. ‘‘Adeo amabilis est, ut ab omnibus homi. 
nibus veneretur.”’ Jacobus Vitriacensis, Epist. VI. scripta a. 1220, Böhmer, 
Analekten 101. Cf. p. 177 f., 225 f. 

36. Thom. Cel. II, n. 22; Spec. perf.c. 27. Cf. p. 222 f. 

37. Thom. Cel. II, n. 181. 38. Jbid. IT, n. 174. 

39. Thom. Cel. I, n. 108; II, n. 216; Spec. perf. c. 88. 

40. Thom. Cel. IT, n. 217; Spec. perf. c. 88. 41. John xiii, 1 

42. “Multa sibi ad infirmos compassio, multa pro illorum necessitatibus sol- 
licitudo.” Thom. Cel. II, n. 175. 43. Ibid. 

44. Thom. Cel. II, n. 176; Spec. perf. c. 28. 

45. ‘Omnium languentium in se transformabat affectus, verba pr&bens com- 
passionis, ubi subventionis non poterat.” Thom. Cel. II, n. 175. 

46. ‘Si quis fratrum in infirmitatem ceciderit, ubicumque fuerit, alii fratres 
non dimittant eum, nisi constituatur unus de fratribus vel plures, si necesse 
fuerit, qui serviant ei, sicut vellent sibi serviri; sed in maxima necessitate pos- 
sunt ipsum dimittere alicui persone, que debeat suze satisfacere infirmitati.” 
Regula I, c. 10, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 11, Lemmens 309. 

47. Regula II, c. 6, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 32, Lemmens 69. 

48. “Et specialiter monuit eas [Pauperes Dominas] ut de eleemosynis, quas 
Dominus daret eis, cum hilaritate et gratiarum actione discrete suis corporibus 
providerent.” Spec. perf. c. go. 

49. According to a letter written by St. Clare to Bl. Agnes of Prague, Francis 
ordained: ‘Prater debiles et infirmas [quibus quoscumque cibos cum omni 
sollicitudine dari admonuit ac imperavit] nemini liceat ex nobis, que corpore 


46 THEIDEALS OF ST. FRANCIS 


sana ac fortis est, aliis cibis, quam quadragesimalibus uti, tum feriato tum festo 
die.” Act. S., Marti t. I, 507, A-B. 

so. ‘*. . . maxime, ut sanz in laboribus, quos sustinebant pro sororibus suis 
infirmis, et ipse infirme in suis infirmitatibus exsisterent patientes.” Spec. 
perf.c.go. 51. Regula II, c. 10, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 34, Lemmens 72. 52. Acts 
xiii, 48. 53. Apoc. ili, Io. 

54. Regula I, c. 10, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 11, Lemmens 39. An almost identical 
version was contained according to Thom. Cel. II, n. 175 in a still older, but no 
longer extant, compilation of the rule. 

55. Thom. Cel. I, n. 101; Spec. derf. c. 91. 56. Cf.p. 230 f. 57. Spec. Perf. 
c. 89. 58. Thom. Cel. II, n. 9. 115-123. 59. Thom. Cel. II, n. 118. 

60. ‘Si qui autem de fratribus . . . aliquam tentationem vel tribulationem 
habebant, audiendo beatum Franciscum loquentem ita dulciter et ferventer .. . 
liberabantur a tentationibus, et tribulationibus sublevabantur mirifice. Com- 
patiens namque loquebatur eis non ut iudex, sed ut pater misericors filiis, et 
medicus bonus infirmis, sciens cum infirmantibus infirmari, et cum tribulatis 
afligi.’” Tres Soc, n. 59. 61. Thom. Cel. II, n. ıro. 62. Thom. Cel. I, n. 49 
sq. 63. Thom. Cel. II, n. 49. 64. Ibid. n. 42. 65. Thom. Cel. II, n. so. 

66. Spec. perf.c.oo. Cf. the Testament of St. Clare (Act. S., Augusti t. II, p. 
747), also her rule c. 6 (Sbaralea, Bullar. francisc. I, p. 675). 

67. Thom. Cel. II, n. 155. 178. 188. 

68. ‘‘Corripiebat nihilominus omnes delinquentes, atque contumaces et 
rebelles animadversione debita coercebat.” Tres Soc. n. 59. 69. Thom. Cel. 
II, n. 156 sq. 

70. “Illos autem infirmos suaviori fovebat clementia, patientia supportabat, 
quos velut fluctuantes parvulos tentationibus agitatos et spiritu deficientes 
sciebat.”” Thom. Cel. II, n. 177. 

71. Regula I, c. 5, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 5, Lemmens 31. 

72. Regula II, c. 7, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 33, Lemmens 69. 

73. Epist. ad quendam ministrum, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 28, Lemmens roo. 

74. Thom. Cel. II, n. 185. 75. Ibid.n. 143. 

76. ‘‘Condescendebat humiliter eius animus omnes fovens, omnibus de- 
ferens.” Bern. a Bessa, Liber de laudibus c. 3. 

77. Thus Regula I, c. 11. 14. 16; Regula II, c. 3, Opusc. ed. Bohmer 12. 13. 
15. 31, Lemmens 40. 42. 45. 67. 78. Tres Soc. n. 58. 79. Thom. Cel. I, n. 29. 

80. Matth. v, 39. 81. Luke vi, 29, 30. 82. Mark viii, 35; Luke ix, 24. 
83. Matth. v, 10. 84. John xv, 20. 85. Matth. x, 23. 86. Matth. v, 117 f; 
Luke vi, 22 f. 

87. Regula I, a. 14. 16. 22. Opusc. ed. Bohmer 13. 15. 19, Lemmens 42. 45. 
51. Cf. Regula Il, c. 10; Admonitiones n. 15. The primitive history of the 
French province relates various incidents from which it is manifest that the 
Friars followed these injunctions literally. Cf. e. g. Tres Soc. n. 38-41; Iord. 
alano n. 6; Vita fr. Agidit 77. 83; Dicta b. Agidit 18 sq. 

88. “Et quicumque ad eos venerit amicus vel adversarius, fur vel latre, 
benigne recipiatur.” Regula I, c. 7, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 8, Lemmens 34. 8g. 
Spec. perf. c. 66. 


CHAPTER XIII 


1. ı Johniii, 18. 2. S. Kurth, La Lepre avant les Croisades en Occident, Paris 
1907. 

3. The leper hospitals frequently had their own chapels and chaplains. The 
Third Lateran Council (1179) at least decreed that the larger leper hospitals 
have their own chaplains, because the inmates were forbidden to enter the public 
churches: Harduin, Acta Conciliorum t. VI, pars II, n. XXIII. 

4. Cf. Liitolf, Die Leprosen, in: Schweizerischer Geschichtsfreund XVI, 187-248. 

5. “Ipse enim Christus in carne apparensmultas curialitatesleprosis exhibuit, 


NOTES 477 


tangendo eos propria manu et sanando multos et dulciter eos alloquendo, sicut 
patet ex evangelio.”’ Humbertus de Romanis, O. P., De eruditione predica- 
eli lib. 2, c. 41, ed. Maxima Bibliotheca Veterum Patrum t. 25, Lugduni 
1077, 477. 

Is. 53, 4. One frequently meets with this reference to the prophecy of 
erie in medieval writers, e. g. S. Bonav. c. 1, n. 6 and Humbertus de Romanis 

7. According to the testament of Louis VIII (1226): ‘“Donamus et legamus 
duobus millibus domorum leprosorum decem millia librarum, videlicet cuilibet 
earum centum solidos.”” Martin-Doisy, Dictionnaire de l économie chrétienne 
II, 415. 8. Martin-Doisy loc. cit. IV, 126. 

9. Historia occidentalis c. 29, ed Franc. Moschi, Duaci 1597, 338 sq. 

1o. Cf. the historically interesting sermon sketch of Humbert de Romanis 
ibid. ‘*Ad Fratres et Sorores in domibus leprosorum.”’ 

11. ‘‘Consueverat multum horrere leprosos . . . In tantum enim, ut dixit, 
sibi amara fuerat visio leprosorum, ut non solum eos nollet videre, sed nec 
eorum habitaculis propinquare. Et si aliquando contingebat ipsum iuxta domos 
eorum transire aut eos videre, licet pietate moveretur ad faciendum eis eleemo- 
synam, per interpositam personam, vultum tamen semper avertens, nares suas 
propriis manibus obturabat.” Tres Soc.n. 11. ‘In tantum namque, ut dice- 
bat, aliquando amara ei leprosorum visio exsistebat, ut, cum tempore vanitatis 
sus per duo fere milliaria eminus ipsorum domos respiceret, nares suas propriis 
manibus obturaret.” Thom. Cel.I, 17. ‘Inter omnia infelicia monstra mundi 
Franciscus naturaliter leprosos abhorrens. . .” Thom. Cel. II,n.o. 12. S. 
Bonav. c. 1, n. 4. 

13. “Francisce, inquit illi Deus in spiritu, pro carnaliter et vane dilectis iam 
spiritualia commutato, et amara pro dulcibus sumens contemne te ipsum, me 
si velis agnoscere; nam et ordine verso sapient tibi que dico.”” Thom. Cel. II, 
n.9. 14. Thom. Cel. II, n. 9; Tres Soc. n. 11; S. Bonav. c. 1, n. 5. 

15. Thom. Cel. II, n. 9; Tres Soc. n. 11. 

16. Testament., Opusc. ed. Böhmer 36, Lemmens 77. 17. S. Bonav. c. 1, n. 6. 

18. Thom. Cel. I, n. 17; Tres Soc. n. 11; S. Bonav. c. 2, n. 6. 

19. ‘‘Diebus vero manibus propriis qui poterant laborabant, exsistentes in 
domibus leprosorum vel in aliis locis honestis, servientes omnibus humiliter et 
devote.” Thom. Cel. I, n. 39. 20. Spec. perf. C. 44. 

21. ‘“Fratres tamen in manifesta necessitate leprosorum possint pro eis 
querere eleemosynam.” Regula I, c. 8, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 9, Lemmens 36. 

22. In order to gain a proper conception of the immense difficulties connected 
with the care of the lepers, and of the heroism with which Francis and his brothers 
served them, one should read the 28th chapter of the Actus (the 25th of the 
Fioretti): ‘‘How St. Francis cured a leper in body and soul.” This legend is 
probably based on fact, even as regards the miraculous cure related therein. 
The historians testify that Francis during his life (S. Bonav. c. 2, n. 6) and after 
his death (Thom. Cel. I, n. 146; II, n. 146 sq.) performed miraculous cures of 
lepers. 23. Spec. perf. c. 58. 

24. We have seen that for the same reasons the Friars no longer labored in 
the houses of strangers. In the Vita B. Christophori de Romandiola, ed. Analecta 
franc. III, 161, it is stated expressly that the Friars had devoted themselves so 
extensively to the care of the lepers in the beginning, because they had no 
houses of their own. 

25. Don Pietro Pirri, San Lazzaro del Valloncello. Memorie di un grande 
leprosario francescano nell’ Umbria, Perugia 1915. 

26. The same Albert of Pisa related later as Provincial of England how he at 
one time lived and labored with St. Francis in a leper hospital: Eccleston coll. 
XIV, p. 106. 27. lord, a Iano n. 32. 39 

28. Eccleston, De adventu FF. Min. in RA coll. I and II, ed. Little p. 8. 13. 

29. ‘‘Volebat ad serviendum leprosis redire denuo et haberi contemptui sicut 
aliquando habebatur.” Thom. Cel. I, n. 103. 

30. ‘Cum aliquem fratrum vel sororum contigerit infirmari, ministri per se 


A/B CEL ELD EAM SOs by, HR ZEN 


vel per alios, si infirmus eis fecerit nuntiari, semel in hebdomada visitent infir- 
mantem et ad pcenitentiam commoveant et, sicut viderint expedire, necessaria 
corporis, quibus indiget, de communi administrent.” Regula antiquissima fra- 
trum et sororum penitentium c. 8, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 78. 

31. Vita auctore Gaufredo de Bello-loco Regis confessario c. 3, Act SS., Augusti 
t. V, p. 548, n. 29 sq. 32. Appendix Vite I, c. 4, n. 23, ibid. p. 564. 

33. Le Comte de Montalembert, Historie de Ste Elisabeth % Hongrie, Paris 
1903, III-II4. II7-119. 

34. Concerning the love of Francis for the poor while in the world cf. p. 76 f. 

35. Joh. Bapt. v. Weiss, Weligeschichte IV, 3. Aufl., Graz und Leipzig 1891, 
623. 36. ‘‘Pauperes quoque intime diligebat, eis viscerose compatiens, omni- 
busque se subditum exhibebat.” Tres Soc. n. 57. 37. Thom. Cel. II, n. 83. 
38. Thom. Cel. H, n. 84.' 30. Tres Soc. n.57. 

40. “Et debent gaudere, quando conversantur inter viles et despectas per- 
sonas, inter pauperes et debiles, infirmos et leprosos et iuxta viam mendicantes.” 
Regula I, c. 9, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 10, Lemmens 37. 

41. “Molestissimum erat ei, cum alicui pauperi cerneret exprobrari, vel in 
aliquam creaturarum maledictionis verbum audiret ab aliquo intorqueri.” 
Thom. Cel. I, n. 76. 

42. “Qui pauperi maledicit, Christo iniuriam facit, cuius portat nobile signum, 
qui se pro nobis fecit pauperem in hoc mundo.” Thom. Cel. I, n. 76. 

43. “Cum pauperem vides, o frater, speculum tibi proponitur Domini et 
pauperis Matris eius. In infirmis similiter, infirmitates, quas pro nobis assump- 
sit, considera.” Thom. Cel. II, n. 85. 

44. “ Eia semper mirrhe fasciculus commorabatur Francisco, semper respicit 
in faciem Christi sui, semper virum dolorum et scientem infirmitates attrectat.” 
Ibid. 45. Ibid. II, n. 89. 

46. “In eleemosynarum datione animarum lucrum potius quam carnis sub- 
sidium requirebat, et non minus in dando quam in accipiendo se ipsum ponebat 
ceteris | in exemplum.” Jbid. II, n. 78. 

47. . Da matri nostre Novum Testamentum, ut vendat illud pro sua 
al “quia per ipsum monemur subvenire pauperibus. Credo equidem, 
quod magis inde placebit donum quam lectio. Datur ergo mulieri liber, et 
peste Testamentum, quod in Ordine fuit, sacra hac pietate distrahitur.” 

HOT. 

48. ‘“Sed iam pauperum amator exstitit pr&cipuus, iam id quod perfecte 
futurus erat sacra spirabant initia. Frequenter proinde exuens semetipsum 
pauperes induit, quibus se similem fieri nondum operis exsecutione sed toto iam 
corde contendit ...” Jbid. II, n. 8. 

49. “. . . Audis, inquit, frater, quid hec paupercula dicit? Amore Dei 
toleremus algorem, et da paupercule pannum, ut tunicam compleat. Dederat 
ipse, donat et socius, et uterque nudus remanet, ut vetula vestiatur.” Ibid. 
II, n. 86. 50. Ibid. I,n. 76. 51. Ibid. II, n. 88. 

Ba . Oportet, frater, ut reddamus mantellum pauperculo, cuius est. 
Mutuo accepimus ipsum donec pauperiorem invenire contigerit . Ego fur 
esse nolo; pro furto nobis imputaretur, si non daremus magis indigenti lies a 
Ibid. n. 87. 53. Ibid. n. 92; cf. n. 196. 

54. “Licet tunica vili satis et hispida foret contentus, illam multoties cum 
aliquo paupere dividere cupiebat.”” Jbid. I, n. 76. 

“Semel aliquando, cum a paupere peteretur, nihilque haberet in manibus, 
gaidam proprie tunice dissuit et pauperi erogavit. Nonnumquam etiam ob 
simile opus femoralia traxit.”’ Jbid. II, n. go. 

56. ‘“‘Frequenter proinde inveniens pauperes lignis vel aliis sarcinis oneratos, 
ad adiuvandum illos proprios humeros, licet nimium debiles, supponebat.”’ Ibid. 
I, n. 76. 57. “Talibus erga pauperes affluebat pietatis visceribus, talibusque 
vestigia pauperis Christi prosequebatur affectibus.”’ Ibid. II, n. 90. 58. See 
p. 97 ff. 59. Tres Soc. n. 43 sq. 60. Vita fr. Aigidit 76. 61. Ibid. 76. 62. 


63. “Tle esset bonus activus, qui si possibile esset, omnes huius mundi pau- 


NOTES 479 


peres pasceret, omnes vestiret, omnia eis necessaria tribueret abundanter . . .” 


Dicta b. Egidii 51. 

64. B. Luchesii Vita antiquior n. 2 sq., Act. SS., Aprilis t. III, p. 602 sq. 

65. De Montalembert, Historie de Ste Elisabeth TI, 115 SS. 133 Ss. 

66. . Dicebat eisdem, quod cum oporteret quandoque i in expensis exce- 
dere, potius eligebat, quod excessus fieret in eleemosynis propter Dominum, 
quam in secularibus et mundanis: ut excessus, qui fiebat in spiritualibus, 
excusaret atque redimeret excessum, quem frequenter oportebat fieri in mun- 
danis.” S. Ludovici Vita Auctore Gaufredo de Bello-loco Regis confessario, c. 3, 
Act. SS., Augusti t. V, p. 548 84. n. 27-31. 

67. Thom. Cel. To a7, 


CHAPTER XIV 


1. Thom. Cel. II, n. 111. 2. Ibid. n. 35 sq. Cf. Actus c. 23. 3. Ibid. II, n. 4. 

4. Matin. x; 12, See.p. 7-4 

5. ‘‘Salutationem hanc revelavit mihi Dominus, ut diceremus: Dominus det 
tibi pacem.” Testam., Opusc. ed. Böhmer 38, Lemmens 80. 

6. Regula I, c. 14, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 13, Lemmens 42. 7. Spec. perf. c. 26. 

8. “In omni predicatione sua, priusquam convenientibus proponeret verbum 
Dei, pacem imprecabatur dicens: Dominus det vobis pacem. Hanc viris et 
mulieribus, hanc obviis et obviantibus semper devotissime nuntiabat. Prop- 
terea multi, qui pacem oderant pariter et salutem, Domino cooperante, pacem 
amplexati sunt toto corde, facti et ipsi filii pacis et emuli salutis eterne.”’ 
Thom. Cel. I, n. 23. Cf. Tres Soc. n. 26; Julian. a Spira, Leg. n. 16. I refer 
also to the interesting testimony of Bl. Angela of Foligno, Vita c. 9, n. 131, Act. 
SS., Ianuarii t. I, 207: ‘‘Apparuit mihi B. Franciscus totus gloriosus saluta- 
tionem consuetam offerens, que est ista: ‘Pax Altissimi tecum sit!’ Salutat 
autem semper voce piissima, humillima, gratiosa et affectuosa.”’ 

9. This follows from a statement of the Archdeacon Thomas of Spalato, of 
which we shall presently speak. See p. 291 f. 10. Tres Soc.n. 29. 11. Spec. 
perf. c. 101. 

12. Humbertus de Romanis, O. P. (De eruditione predicatorum lib. 2, c. 26, 
Max. Bibl. PP. t. XXV, 468) stresses this: ‘“ Fratres Minores declinent occupa- 
tiones turbativas, ut pacem (quam optare eos Beatus Franciscus voluit docendo 
eos dicere ‘Dominus det vobis pacem’) habere possint.’ 

13. “‘In his omnibus pacem et mansuetudinem cum omnibus sequebantur.”’ 
Thom. Cel. I, n. 41. 

14. ‘‘Sicut pacem annuntiatis ore, sic in cordibus vestris et amplius habeatis. 
Nullus per vos provocetur ad iram vel scandala, sed omnes per mansuetudinem 
vestram ad pacem, benignitatem et misericordiam provocentur. Nam ad hoc 
vocati sumus, ut vulneratos curemus, alligemus contractos et erroneos revoce- 
mus.” Tyres Soc. n. 58. This text is mutilated in Faloci-Pulignani, while 
Amoni, Leg. trium Soc. p. 84, offers the correct reading. 

15. de Ambidexter et fortis existe, ut audias verbum angelicum, quod scriptum 
est in libro iudicum (6, 12): ‘Pax tibi, virorum fortissime’. . . Propter favorem 
popularem milites seculares ventum seminant inturbidum, metunt et laborare 
vel pugnare non cessant; quanto magis Christi militibus pugnandum est strenue 
pro salute sua, non pro gloria populari, sed pro gloria beatitudinis sempiterne. 
Sicut autem de lege bellorum hoc legimus institutum, ut ex donativo, quod milites 
consequuntur, pars quedam, de qua sustentari possent, eisdem erat pro neces- 
sariis conferenda, pars autem alia, ne consumerentur inaniter custodita et tem- 
pore suo reddenda; ita si legitime certaveris, pax tibi reddetur pectoris, et tan- 
dem pax eeternitatis, heec pax super pacem.’’ Guilberti Tornacensis Tractatus 
de pace animique tranquillitate c. 19, ed. Max. Bibl. PP.t. 25, 391, G-H. Regard- 
ing the author cf. Wadding-Sbaralea, Scriptores Ordinis Minorum, Rome 1806, 


100. 308 sq. 


O0, DH By DD EAS SS (Otis To ROARING al 


16. The use of the terms ‘‘minores”’ and “maiores” in the quoted sense was 
quite general. Cf. Ducange-Carpentarius, Glossarium, s. v., as also the very 
significant text in Petrus de Vineis (died 1249), Epistole lib. 5, c. 12, Basilex 
1566, 590: ‘“‘Eidem ut reformetur pax inter minores et maiores. Pati nolentes, 

.ut minores a maioribus opprimantur, discretioni tue precipiendo mandamus, 
quatenus inter milites et populares civitatis procures pacem et concordiam refor- 
mare. 

17. Regarding this entire description cf. Francesco Pennacchi, L’anno della 
prigionia di S. Francesco in Perugia, Perugia 1915 (Estratto dall’ Archivio per la 
Storia ecclesiastica dell’ Umbria, vol. II, Foligno 1915). This treatise of Pen- 
nacchi will call for a revision of the chronology of the youth of Francis, which 
is very uncertain as it is. Heretofore it was commonly assumed that the war 
between Assisi and Perugia and the following captivity of the Saint took place 
in the years 1201-02. If we assume instead the years 1204-5 and it appears that 
nothing can be said against this chronology of Pennacchi—then the statement 
of Tres Soc. n. 5, according to which several years passed between the liberation 
of Francis and his journey to Apulia, can no longer be upheld. 

18. Cristofani, Delle storie di Assist libri sei, terza ediz., Assisi ae 79. 

19. See Pennacchi ibid. 5. sq. 20. See p. 172. 21. Bonav. CHAR 

22. Since Cristofani discovered and published the Pact of 1210, stare 
have constantly stressed the part which Francis took in the reconciliation of the 
Maiores and Minores of Assisi. Cf. Pennacchi, J] patto d’Assisi e San Fran- 
cesco, Assisi tg11. 23. Thom. Cel. II, n. 108; S. Bonav. c.6,n.9. 24. Har- 
duin, Acta Concil. VI, 2, 1724. 

25. “‘. . . Deveniens ergo Perusium populo congregato incipit predicare; 
cumque milites in equis, ut assolet, currerent et in ludis militaribus arma tenentes 
verbum Dei prepedirent . .. seviunt in milites populares, et verso gladio 
nobiles in plebeios; ultimo tanta immanitate certatum est, quod etiam vicini, 
quos offenderant, condolebant.’”’ Thom. Cel. II, n. 37. 

DON Tota verborum eius discurrebat materies ad extinguendas inimici- 
tias et ad pacis federa reformanda . . . Sed tantam Deus verbis illius contulit 
efficaciam, ut multi trinus nobilium, inter quas antiquarum inimicitiarum furor 
immanis multa sanguinis effusione fuerat debachatus, ad pacis consilium reduce- 
rentur...” Thome, Archidiaconi Spalatensis Historia Pontificum Salonitanorum 
ed. Heinemann, Monum. Germ. hist. Script. XXIX, Hannovere 1892, 580. The 
passage is found likewise in Sigonius, De episcopis Bononsiensibus libri quinque 
ed. Opera omnia III, Mediol. 1732-1737, col. 432, also in Böhmer, Analekten 
106. 27. In the earliest Papal documents they are always, later on commonly, 
called ‘‘ Penitents.”’ 

28. ‘Arma mortalia contra quempiam non recipiant vel secum ferant. Omnes 
a iuramentis solemnibus abstineant nisi necessitate cogente in casibus a summo 
pontifice exceptis in sua indulgentia videlicet pro pace, fide, calumnia et testi- 
monio . . . Si contra ius vel privilegia fratres vel sorores a potestatibus vel 
rectoribus locorum in quibus habitant vexentur, ministri loci, quod videbitur 
expedire, cum consilio domini episcopi faciant.” Regula et vita fratrum vel 
sororum de penitentia c. 6, n. 3-4; c. 10, n. 3, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 76. 79. In the 
above form these regulations no doubt originated after 1221, since they appear 
to presuppose the Papal decrees of 1221, 1227 and 1228. But just these decrees, 
whereby the exemption of the Tertiaries from the obligation of oaths and from 
military duty is protected, show that the regulations in question were contained 
in substance in the Regula pznitentium from the beginning. 

29. “‘Significatum est nobis, quod Faventie et in quibusdam aliis civitatibus 
et locis vicinis quidam sunt, quibus illum Dominus inspiravit affectum, ut 
mundi iam gloriam non querentes, sed ex humilitate abiicientes in seculo semet 
ipsos ad penitentiam se converterint et ad hoc totum deputaverint tempus 
suum signum humilitatis et penitentiz in habitu exhibentes. Quia vero tales 
Super iuramento de armis sumendis et sequendis locorum potestatibus exhibendo 
multoties molestantur ex eo, quod nunquam defecit, qui bonis actibus invideret, 


NOTES 481 


fraternitati tue per apostolica scripta mandamus, quatenus, cum a talibus 
fueris requisitus, molestatores suos super huius modi iuramento premissa moni- 
tione sublata appelationis impedimento auctoritate nostra compescas.” Sbaralea, 
Bullar. francisc. I, p. 8, n. 8 

30. We give the entire passage, which is not easily accessible: ‘Nam fratres 
Predicatores et Minores, qui post suarum religionum exordia, contra nos odio 
et rancore concepto vitam et conversationem nostram reprobam predicando 
multifariam depravarunt, nos et iura nostra minoraverunt in tantum, quod 
simus iam ad nihilum redacti et qui olim ratione officii dominabamur regibus, 
principes ligabamus, increpationes faciebamus in populis, nunc simus in oppro- 
brium et derisum: et celeberrima laus nostra versa est in fabulam omni carni. 
Tacemus autem qualiter pradicti fratres, in alienam messem paulatim manum 
immittentes, clerum singulis dignitatibus supplantarunt: et sibi penitentias et 
baptismata, infirmantium unctiones et coemeteria usurpantes, in se omnem vim 
et authoritatem clericalis ministerii astrinxerunt. Nunc autem, ut iura nostra 
potentius enervarent, et a nobis devotionem preciderent singulorum, duas novas 
fraternitates creaverunt: ad quas sic generaliter mares et feminas receperunt, 
quod vix unus et una remansit, cuius nomen in altera non sit scriptum.”” Petrus 
de Vineis, Epistole lib. I, c. 37, Basilex 1566, p. 234. Cf. Huillard-Bréholles, 
Vie et correspondance de Pierre de la vigne, ministre de l’empereur Frédéric II, 
Paris 1865, 148-153. The document is found among the letters of Peter de 
Vineis, but was not written by him, but addressed to him. See P. Fredegand, 
O. M. Cap., Examen critique dune phrase attribue a Pierre de la Vigne, in: 
Etudes franciscaines t. XXXIV (1922) 538-560. 

31. Georg Schanz, Zur Geschichte der deutschen Gesellenverbinde im Mittel- 
alter, Leipzig 1876, 70, Anmerk. 1. 

32. “‘Multi magni genere tam viri quam mulieres, maxime in Italie partibus, 
huiusmodi statum vivendi assumpserunt.” De eruditione predicatorum lib. 2, 
c. 39, Max. Bibl. PP. t. XXV, 475. 

33. Bernard a Bessa, Liber de laudibus c. 7, PD. 75, says expressly: ‘In regulis 
seu vivendi formis istorum [fratrum et sororum de penitentia] dictandis sacre 
memorize dominus papa Gregorius, in minori adhuc officio constitutus, beato 
Francisco intima familiaritate coniunctus, devote supplebat, quod viro sancto 
in dictandi scientia deerat.” 34. Sbaralea assigns June 25, 1227. 

35. Breve ‘‘Nimis patenter,” Sbaralea I, 30, n. 7; Potthast, Regesta Pontif. 
Rom. n. 7919. 36. Breve ‘“‘Detestanda humani generis,” Sbaralea I, 39, n. 20; 
Potthast n. 8159. 

37. Breve ‘Cum dilecti” dated June 4, (Sbaralea gives June 7,) 1230, Sbaralea 
I, 65, n. 53, Potthast 8565; Breve ‘“Nimis patenter,” April 5, 1231, Sbaralea I, 
71, n. 59, Potthast 8697 b; Breve ‘Ut cum maiori libertate,” Nov. 21, 1234, 
Sbaralea I, 142, n. 149, Potthast 9768. 

38. Cf. the exhaustive work of Leo L. Dubois, Saint Francis, Social Reformer, 
New York 1905. 

39. ‘“The Beggar of Assisi is the representative of the great lower mass of the 
people, the third estate, striving for a self-reliant and independent position, but 
at the same time also the representative of each individual of this mass, as he 
becomes conscious of his rights toward the world.’ Henry Thode, Franz von 
Assisi und die Anfänge der Kunst der Renaissance in Italien, Berlin 1885, 521. 

40. ‘‘Nella regola di San Francesco era stata la consecrazione e in qualche 
modo il primo inizio della italiana democrazia.” Gino Capponi, Storia de 
Republica di Firenze I, Firenze 1875, 180. Likewise Cristofani loc cit. I, 70, also 
A. Cantono, San Francesco d’Assisi e la democrazia cristiana, in: Fede e scienza 
Roma 1903. 

41. Regula Il, c. 2; Tres Soc.n. 57 sq. 42. Thom. Cel. II, n. 89. Seep. 294. 
43. See p. 288. 

44. Monum. Germ. hist. Leg. sect. IV, t. I (1893) 603, Anmerk. L.; cf. Kluck. 
hohn, Geschichte des Gottesfriedens, Leipzig 1857, 56-73. 45. Matth. v. 9. 


482 TUE LD BAYS Oe TC HERAN GES 


CHAPTER XV 


1. “Apostolicus vir Franciscus.” Tres Soc. n. 68. 

2. The oldest liturgical Office in honor of St. Francis begins with the words: 
“Franciscus vir catholicus et totus apostolicus ... .” Hil. Felder, O. M. Cap., 
Die Reimofizien auf die hl. Franziskus und Antonius gedichtet und komponiert 
durch Fr. Julian von Speier (died c. 1250), Freiburg, 1901, p. 107. 3. See p. 13. 

4. Vita Columbani Abbatis discipulorumgue eius lib. I, c. 4, ed. Krusch, Monum. 
Germ. hist. Script. Rer. Meroving. t. IV, Hannover& et Lipsiz 1902, 70 sq. 

5. Cf. S. Columbani Regula cenobialis ed. Migne, Pair. lat. t. 80, col. 209-230. 

6. “Si quis de ordine sacerdotum in monasteriis se suscipi rogaverit, non 
quidem citius ei assentiatur; tamen si omnino perstiterit in hac supplicatione, 
sciat se omnem regule disciplinam servaturum; nec aliquid ei relaxabitur.... 
Concedatur ei tamen post abbatem stare et benedicere aut missas tenere... 
Clericorum autem si quis eodem desiderio monasterio sociari voluerit, loco medi- 
ocri collocentur et ipsi . . . Si quis abbas sibi presbyterum vel diaconum ordinari 
petierit de suis eligat qui dignus sit sacerdotio fungi. Ordinatus autem caveat 
elationem aut superbiam nec quidquam pr&sumat, nisi quod ei ab abbate preeci- 
pitur ... Locum vero illum semper attendat quo ingressus est in monasterium, 
preter officium altaris ...” S. Benedicti Regula c. 60. 62. 

7. Ruperti Abbatis Tuitiensis, De vita vere apostolica lib. 2, c. 16. 17; lib. 3, 
c. 7. 8; lib. 4, c. 11; Migne, Pair. lat. t. 170, col. 631-634. 637. 648. 

8. On certain feasts an address was to be made to the monks assembled at 
Chapter. On certain days likewise the Abbot or his representative was to 
preach to the people who were present in the monastery church. Cf. Marténe, 
De antiquis monachorum ritibus, Lugduni 1690, 266. 334. 342. 602. 

9. Cf. Lecoy de la Marche, La chaire francaise au moyen-äge, spécialement au 
ızieme siecle, Paris 1886, 26 s. 

to. Several decrees of this kind are found in Decretum Gratiani, secunda pars, 
causa 16, q. I, ed. Christ. Freisleben t. I, Colonize Munatiane 1757, 661 sqq. 

11. S. Hieronym., Contra. Vigilantium n. 15, Migne. Patr. lat. 23, 351. 

12. “Monachis quamvis religiosis, ad normam sancti Benedicti intra claus- 
trum morari precipimus, vicos, castella, civitates peragrare prohibemus, et a 
populorum predicatione omnino cessare censuimus.” Decret. Grat. ibid. p. 663, 
can. 11. 13. Serm. 28 de tempore: ‘‘De quatuor vitiis.” 

14. For the proofs see P. Denifle, O. P., Die Konstitutionen des Predigerordens 
vom Jahre 1228, in: Archiv. fiir Literatur-und Kirchengeschichte I, 175. 

15. In the liturgical Office of St. Dominic the first antiphon of the second 
nocturn reads: ‘‘Sub Augustini regula mente profecit sedula; tandem virum 
Canonicum auget in apostolicum.”’ The author of this Office is one of the imme- 
diate successors of St. Dominic, either Jordan of Saxony or Constantin of Orvieto. 

16. “‘Ipsi supra regulam addiderunt... pr&dicationem.” Humbert. de 
Romanis, De eruditione predicatorum lib. 2, c. 10, ed. Max. Bibl. PP.t. XXV, 461. 

17. “‘Utraque religio, scilicet monachorum et canonicorum regularium ordi- 
natur ad opera vite contemplative: inter que precipua sunt ea, que aguntur 
in divinis mysteriis.”” Summa theol. 2, 2, q. 189, a. 8, ad 2. Cf. S. Bonav., 
Questiones disputate de perfectione evangelica q. 2, a. 3, n. 12, Opera V, 164 sq.; 
Determinationes questionum circa regulam FF. Minorum q. 2, Opera VIII, 338 sq. 

18. See p. 1-18. 

19. Cf. regarding these and other itinerant preachers of the beginning of the 
12th century, J. Walter, Die ersten Wanderprediger Frankreichs, zwei Teile, 
Leipzig 1903 und 1906. 

20. See p. 70. K. Miiller, Die Waldenser und ihre einzelnen Gruppen bis zum 
Anfang des 14. Jahrhunderts, Gotha 1886; Haupt, Waldensertum und Inquisi- 
tion, Freiburg 1890. 

21. Tiraboschi, Vetera Humiliatorum Monumenta II, Mediolani 1767, 133 sa. 

22. Innocenti III Epistole lib. 11, 196; Migne, Patr, lat. 215, col. 1513. Cf. 
Pierron, Die katholischen Armen, Freiburg 1911. 23. Cf. p. 19-37. 


NOTES 483 


24. Froissard, in Löber, Über Ritterschaft und Adel im späteren Mittelalter, 
Abhandlung der Münchener Akademie, 1861, I, 412. 25. See p. 264 ff. 

26. “Pr&co sum magni Regis, quid ad vos?” Thom. Cel. I, n. 16. 

27. Joh. Bapt. von Weiss, Weltgeschichte IV, 3. Aufl. Graz und Leipzig 1891, 
625-633. 28. Cf. Ducange-Carpentarius s. v. ‘‘preco, preconare.” 29. Tres 
Soc.n. 11-13. 30. Thom. Cel.I,n.16; II,n. ıosq.; Tres Soc.n.13. 31. Thom. 
Cel Ti neta. $32. See D.7.f476; j 

33. Thom. Cel. I, n. 22; Tres Soc. n. 25; S. Bonav. c. 3, n. 1. 

4. “. . . imitator evangelice paupertatis effectus et sedulus evangelii pradi- 
cator.” JIord.a.Ianon. 2. 35. lord. a. Iano n. 2. 

36. “Exinde cum magno fervore spiritus et gaudio mentis cepit omnibus 
poenitentiam pr&dicare, verbo simplici, sed corde magnifico edificans audientes. 
-Erat verbum eius velut ignis ardens, penetrans intima cordis, et omnium mentes 
admiratione replebat.” Thom. Cel. I, n. 23. 37. Ibid. 

38. Tres Soc. n. 28 sq.; Thom. Cel. I, n. 24; II, n.15; Vita fr. Agidit 75; S. 
Bonav. c. 3, n. 3-4. 39. Tres Soc. n. 33. 

40. Thom. Cel. I, n. 25. 29; Tres Soc.n. 35. 41. Tres Soc. n. 36. Cf. ed. 
aan p. 56. The text recension in Faloci-Pulignani as well as in Amoni is 
aulty. 

42. “Ite, charissimi, bini et bini per diversas partes orbis, annuntiantes 
hominibus pacem et pcenitentiam in remissionem peccatorum; et estote patientes 
in tribulatione, securi quia propositum et promissum suum Dominus adimplebit. 
Interrogantibus humiliter respondete, persequentibus benedicite, vobis iniurian- 
tibus et calumniam inferentibus gratias agite, quia pro his regnum nobis prepa- 
ratur eternum.”’ Thom. Cel. I, n. 29. 

43. Thom. Cel. I, n. 29 sq.; S. Bonav. c. 4, n. 33. 44. Tres Soc. n.37. 45. 
Tres Soc. n. 37-45. 46. Matth. x, 5-14; Mark vi, 7-13; Luke ix, 1-6; x, 1-11. 

47. “Video, fratres, quod congregationem nostram vult Dominus misericor- 
diter augmentare. Euntes ergo ad matrem nostram sanctam romanam ecclesiam 
notificemus summo Pontifici, quod Dominus per nos facere coepit, ut de voluntate 
et precepto ipsius, quod ccepimus prosequamur.” Tres Soc. n. 46. 

48. “Inveni virum perfectissimum, qui vult secundum formam sancti Evan- 
gelii vivere et evangelicam perfectionem observare; per quem credo, quod velit 
Dominus per universum mundum totam suam Ecclesiam renovare.” Anonym. 
Perus. n. 33; cf. Tres Soc. n. 48. 

49. ‘‘Vere hic est ille, qui opere et doctrina Christi sustentabit Ecclesiam.” 
Thom. Cel. II, n. 17; Tres Soc. n. 51. 

50. “Ite cum Domino, fratres, et sicut ipse Dominus inspirare dignabitur, 
omnibus pcenitentiam predicate. Cum autem omnipotens Deus vos multi- 
plicaverit numero maiori et gratia, referetis nobis, et nos plura his concedemus 
ac maiora vobis securius committemus.” Tres Soc. n. 49; cf. Thom. Cel. ibid. 

51. ‘‘Dedit etiam sibi [Francisco] licentiam predicandi ubique poenitentiam 
ac fratribus suis, ita tamen, ut qui predicaturi erant, a beato Francisco licentiam 
rg et hoc idem postea in Concistorio approbavit.” Tres Soc.n. 51. 52. 

bid. n. 52. 

53. Cf. Lecoy de la Marche, La chaire francaise au moyen-äge, 2. ed., Paris 
1886, 23 s. 26. Also Odonis, episcopi Parisiensis, Constitutiones synodice of 1198, 
in: Harduin, Acta Concil. t. VI, pars 2, p. 1945 n. 41, and Richardi Poore Con- 
stitutiones of 1217, in: Harduin zbid. VII, p. 103, n. 50. 

54. Tres Soc. n. 33. 37. and Brother Leo in: Vita fr. Egidii ed. Analecta franc. 
III, 76. See p. 326. 

55. “Exinde beatus Franciscus circumiens civitates et castra, coepit ubique 


amplius et perfectius predicare . . . Erat enim vericidus predicator, ex auctori- 
tate apostolica roboratus...” Tres Soc.n. 54. 56. Ibid. 57 Thom. Cel. I, 
n. 36-37. 


58. Harnack says rightly, Lehrbuch der Dogmengeschichte III, 3. Aufl., Leipzig 
1897, 383: “While into the ideal of poverty and the ascetical renunciation the 
new moment of the apostolic life was received, this ideal took on an immanent 


A284 EHE ID DAMS Oa TERN Gis 


gigantic power of propaganda, such as monasticism had never possessed, and 
such as—neither formerly nor now—belongs to its real nature.” 

59. “In pentecoste conveniebant omnes fratres apud Sanctam Mariam, et 
'tractabant, qualiter melius possent regulam observare, atque constituebant 
fratres per diversas provincias, qui populo pr&dicarent.” Tres Soc. n. 57. 

60. ‘*. . . Fervente desiderio et vehemente studio singulis diebus laborant, 
ut animas, que pereunt, a seculi vanitatibus retrahant et eas secum ducant. 
Et iam per gratiam Dei magnum fructum fecerunt et multos lucrati sunt... 
Per totum annum disperguntur per Lombardiam et Thusciam et Apuliam et 
Siciliam . .. Dominus per huiusmodi simplices et pauperes homines multas 
animas ante finem mundi vult salvare.’’ Iacobi Vitriac. Epistula data Ianuae 
a. 1216. Oct. in: Böhmer, Analekten 98 sq. 

61. Thom. Cel. I, n. 74 sq.; Specs perf. c. 65. Regarding the date see Pott- 
hast, Regesta n. 5487 sq.; Guido Levi, Societd di storia patria XII, p. 241 sqq.; 
Sabatier, Spec. perf. p. 122, note 2. 

62. S. Bonav. c. 4, n. 9; Spec. perf. c. 65; Chron. XXIV General. ed. Anal. 
francisc. III, p. 10. 63. Tord. a Iano n. 4. 

64. Sbaralea, Bullar. francisc. I, p. 2, n. 2; Potthast, Regesta n. 6081. 65. 
Tord. a Iano n. 3-8. 66. Ibid. n. 5. 67. Ibid. n.17. 68. Ibid. 69. Ibid. n. 
18 sq. 

70. Thomas de Eccleston, Tractatus de adventu FF. Minorum in Angliam, 
passim. 71. See p. 306. 72. Thom. Cel. I. n. 89. 120. 73. Thom. Cel. I, n. 
ssi) So Bonavec. On. (5: 

74. Cf. P. Albert M. Weiss, Die Entwicklung des christlichen Rittertums, in: 
Histor. Jahrbuch der Gorresgesellschaft I, (1880) 118 f. 129 f. 133-136. 138-140. 

75. Verses 77-82. 76. Verses 227-232. 77. See p. 24. 78. Thom. Cel. I, 
n. 55; Tract. de mirac. n. 33. 79. Thom. Cel. ibid.; S. Bonav. c. 9, n. 5. 

80. Thom. Cel.I,n.56. Cf.S. Bonav.c.9,n.6. 81. Iord.alIanon.10. 82. 
S. Bonav. c. 9, n. 7. 

83. Regarding the sojourn of Francis in the Christian and the Saracen camp 
we have two reports of the eye-witness Jacques de Vitry, in: Böhmer, Analekten 
ror f. 104 f. Cf. Thom. Cel. I, n. 57; II,n. 30; S. Bonav.c. 5, n. 7-9; Iord. a 
Jano n. 10. 

84. Opusc. ed. Böhmer 14-17, Lemmens 43-48. 

85. Opusc. ed. Böhmer 33 sq. 35, Lemmens 71. 73 sq. 

86. The parallel passage in the 16th chapter of the older rule reads: ‘“ Where- 
fore, whoever of the brothers may wish, by divine inspiration, to go among the 
Saracens and other infidels, let them go with the permission of their minister 
and servant. But let the minister give them leave and not refuse them, if he 
sees they are fit to be sent; he will be held to render an account to the Lord if 
in this or in other things he acts indiscreetly.” 

87. ‘Summam vero [obedientiam] et in qua nihil haberet caro et sanguis 
illam esse credebat, qua divina inspiratione inter fideles itur, sive ob proximorum 
lucrum, sive ob martyrii desiderium. Hanc vero petere multum Deo iudicabat 
acceptum.” Thom. Cel. II, n. 152. Higher than the obedience to go among 
the infidels, Francis esteemed only the one to go among the Germans. The 
first expedition to Germany (1219) was treated so cruelly because of the sus- 
pected heresy of the Friars, that the Saint would oblige no brother to journey 
thither. Two years later he therefore promised the Friars who volunteered for 
Germany a more abundant blessing than to the missionaries among the Saracens: 
“Qui zelo Dei et animarum inspirati ire vellent [in Theutoniam], eandem eis 
obedientiam immo ampliorem dare vult [Franciscus], quam daret euntibus ultra 
mare.” Jord. a Iano n. 17. 

88. Vita fr. Egidii ed. Anal. francisc. III, 78. 89. Iord. a Iano n. 7. 

90. Iac. Vitriac. Historia orientalis lib. II, c. 32, Böhmer Analekten 105. 

ot. A Legend of these first martyrs of the Order is mentioned by Iord. a Iano 
n. 8, with the remark that it had been submitted to St. Francis. The report 
of an eye-witness was published by Karl Müller, Die Anfänge des Minoriten- 


NOTES 485 


ordens, Freiburg i. Br. 1885, 204-210. A somewhat later description of the 
martyrdom was published in the Analecta francisc. III, 579-596. 

92. Wadding, Annales Minorum ad a. 1220, n. 38. 

93. Vita primitiva S. Antonii c. 5-6 ed. L. de Kerval p. 29-34. 

94. Act. SS., Octobr. t. VI, 378-392. 5. Iac. Vitriac., Historia orientalis 
lib. II, c. 32, Böhmer, Analekten 104. 105. 

96. Cf. the respective Bulls of Gregory IX of 1233: Bullar. francisc. I, p. 100- 
107, N. 97-103. 106. From these Papal documents it becomes evident that the 
Friars were still active in the Saracen missions. 

97. Most noted are the two Tartar missionaries and geographers, John de 
Plano Carpinis (Pian di Carpine) and William Rubruck. The former, at the 
behest of Innocent IV, passed along the coast of the Caspian Sea and Lake Aral 
through Mongolia to the camp of the Great Khan at Karakorum southeast of 
the Sea of Baikal; the latter journeyed first to Armenia, then to Sarai and thence 
to Karakorum. On the entire journey they preached the Gospel and collected 
valuable information regarding the country and people of interior Asia, which 
was heretofore unknown to the West. See D’Avezac, Relation des Mongoles ox 
Tartares par le frere Jean du Plan de Carpin, premiere Edition compléte, Paris 
1838; P. Viator, O. M. Cap., Le premier apötre franciscain de la Tartarie (1182- 
1252): Fr. Jean de Plan-Carpin, in: Etudes francisc. V. (1901) 505-520. 600- 
618; W. Rockhill, The Journey of William of Rubruck to the Eastern Parts of the 
World, London 1905; H. Matrod, Le voyage de Fr. Guillaume de Rubrouck (1253- 
1255), in: Etudes francisc. XIX (1908) 5-24. 132-152. 349-367. 625-639; XX 
(1908) 142-156. 243-255. 498-508. 682-692; A. Batton, Wilhelm von Rubruck, 
Ein Weltreisender aus dem Franziskanerorden, München 1921. 

08. According to the testimony of Pope Clement V: ‘In terris Saracenorum- 
Paganorum, Gr&corum, Bulgarorum, Cumanorum, Yberorum, Alanorum, Gaza- 
rorum, Gothorum, Sichorum, Rutenorum, Iacobinorum, Nubianorum, Nes- 
torianorum, Georgianorum, Armenorum, Indorum, Meclitorum aliarumque non 
credentium nationum Orientis et Aquilonis.”” Wadding, Annales Minorum 
VI, 97. 

09. ‘Mare magnum iam aggredior, tractatum de gloriosis et tantis fratrum 
Minorum per orbem universum laboribus, agonibus et necibus in obsequium 
Christi et eius Ecclesiz pro fidei catholice defensione atque propagatione tole- 
ratis.”” Dominicus de Gubernatis a Sos pitello, Orbis seraphicus t. V (de missionibus 
t. primus), Romz 1689. 100. Mark xvi, 15. 101. Thom. Cel. II, n. 172. 

102. “‘Conferebant pariter veri cultores iustiti@, utrum inter homines con- 
versari deberent, an ad loca solitaria se conferre. Sed sanctus Franciscus, qui 
non de industria propria confidebat, sed sancta oratione omnia pr&veniebat 
negotia, elegit non sibi vivere soli, sed ei, qui pro omnibus mortuus est, sciens 
se ad hoc missum, ut Deo animas lucraretur, quas diabolus conabatur auferre.” 
Ibid. I, n. 35. 

103. The entire episode, which is related by S. Bonav. c. 12, n. 1-2 (and in 
substance also by Actus B. Francisci c. 16), is hardly identical with the one just 
described from Thom. Cel. I, n. 35. The latter episode happened on the return 
of the twelve Friars from Rome (1209); the former must be dated a few years 
later, because the Poor Clares (dating from 1212) are mentioned init. Other 
incidents also of the two reports do not agree. 104. Ibid. I, n. 97. 

105. ‘‘Tantum quoque animarum diligebat salutem et proximorum sitiebat 
lucra, ut cum per se ambulare non posset, asello vectus circuiret terras.” Ibid. 
2.08; S. Bonav. ci 14, DST. 

106. S. Bonav. ibid.; Thom. Cel. I, n. 103. j 

107. “Animarum zelo, quo perfecte repletus erat, volebat sibi filios vera 
similitudine respondere.” Thom. Cel. II, n. 155. ; 

108. “‘. . . proximorum lucra sitiebant ardenter, quos desiderabant ut salvi 


essent.” Jbid. I, n. 27. 


486. "IUERETDE VBSIOTSSTSBRAINIGLS 


CHAPTER XVI 


2. Among the first twelve, Fr. Sylvester (Thom. Cel. IT, n. 109) alone seems 
to Di been a priest. 2. See p. 306. 

. “Nos plura concedemus ac maiora vobis securius committemus.” Tres 
See n. 49. 

. “Omnis utriusque sexus fidelis, postquam ad annos discretionis pervenerit, 
Jeet sua solus peccata saltem semel in anno fideliter confiteatur proprio sacer- 
doti . . . Si quis autem alieno sacerdoti voluerit iusta de causa sua confiteri 
peccata, licentiam prius postulet et obtineat a proprio sacerdote, cum aliter ille 
ipsum non possit absolvere vel ligare.” Denzinger-Bannwart, Enchiridion sym- 
bolorum ed. 12, n. 437. 

5. ‘Quod vero poenitentiam dare prohibentur [monachi], inde est, quia nulli 
sacerdotum licet alterius parochianum ligare vel solvere.” Decret. Gratian. pars 
II, causa 16, q. 1, c. 19 ed. H. Freiesleben, Colonia Munatiane 1757, 665. 

6. Regula I, c. 20; II, c. 7. Opusc. ed. Böhmer 20. 33, Lemmens 49 sq. 69 sq. 

i Proof in: Felder, Geschichte der wissenschaftl. Studien im Franziskaner- 
orden, 68. 

8. Cf. S. Bonav., Sentent. lib. IV, dist. 17, pars 3, a. 1, q. 2, conclusio, Opera 
IV, 453 sq.; Determinat. quest., pars 1, q. 2, Opera VIII, 338 sq.; Quare Fratres 
Minores predicent et confessiones audiant n. 13 sqq., Opera VIII, 378 sqq. 

9. Eccleston coll. VI, ed. Little 34 sq. For the date see ibid. p. 35, nota b. 

to. “.. . propter infatigabilem animarum zelum predicando, docendo, con- 
fessiones audiendo usque ad solis occasum quam s&pe ieiunus manebat.” Vita 
s. Antonii c. 11, n. 7 ed. L. de Kerval. 11. Ibid. c. 13, n. 7. 

12, Antonius “tantam utriusque sexus multitudinem ad confitenda peccata 
mittebat, ut nec fratres nec alii sacerdotes, quorum non parva sequebatur eum 
frequentia, audiendis confessionibus sufficerent.”’ Jbid. c. 13, n. 13. 

13. “Fuerunt quoque et fratres plurimi, qui licet predicationis vel lectionis 
ofacium non haberent, de gratissimo favore prelatorum, per oboedientiam et 
ordinationem ministri provincialis in diversis locis confessiones tam religiosorum 
quam secularium audiebant.” Eccleston coll. XII, p. 75. 14. Ibid. p. 75-78. 

15. Sbaralea, Bullar. francisc. I, p. 74-77, n. 63-66. Gregory IX writes: 

“Non desunt plerigque tam ecclesiarum prelati, quam alii qui ceca cupiditate 
traducti proprie aviditate substrahi reputantes, quidquid predictis Fratribus 
fıdelium pietas elargitur, quietem ipsorum multipliciter inquietant . . Volunt 
namque, etsi non omnes, ipsis invitis, eorum confessiones audire ac eis iniungere 
poenitentias et eucharistiam exhibere: nec volunt ut Corpus Christi in eorum 
oratoriis reservetur; et Fratres ipsorum defunctos ad ecclesias suas sepelire 
compellunt . . . Volunt etiam in domibus eorundem certum numerum Fratrum 
sacerdotum, clericorum et laicorum, necnon cereorum, lampadarum et ornamen- 
torum pro sua voluntate taxare; Sr . Nec permittunt, ut novi sacerdotes eorum 
alibi quam in ecclesiis suis celebrent primas missas; eos nihilominus compel- 
lentes, ut in quotidianis missis, quas in suis locis et altaribus celebrant, obla- 
tiones ad opus eorum recipiant et reservent. Quidquid etam eis, dum celebrant 
missarum solemnia intra domorum suarum ambitum, pia fidelium devotione 
donatur, ab ipsis extorquere oblationis nomine contendentes; quod eisdem tam 
in ornamentis altaris quam in libris ecclesiasticis absolute confertur, vendicant 
perperam iuri suo...” Jbid. p. 75 sq., n. 66. 16. Ibid. p. 214 sq., n. 224. 

17. Bulls of June 12, 1234, ibid p. 128, n. 131, and of June 24, 1235, ibid. p 
167, n. 173. to be compared with the Bull of Innocent III, June 11, 1219, zbid. 


Dos, fe: 

18. Bull of Febr. 1, 1230, ibid. p. 58, n. 46. 

19. Bulls of April 3, and May 17, 1233, tbid. p. 101, n. 97; p. 103, n. 101. 

20. **. . . dilectos Fratres Ordinis memorati Gaal pro reverentia divina 
et nostra ad officium predicandi, ad quod sunt ex professione sui Ordinis deputati, 
benigne recipere procuretis; ac populos vobis commissos, ut ex ore ipsorum 


verbi Dei semen devote suscipiant, admonentes, ut in suis necessitatibus eis 


NOTES 487 


libenter assistatis; nec impediatis, quominus illi, qui ad eorum predicationem 
accesserint, cum eorum sacerdotibus valeant confiteri . . . et dicti Fratres per 
cooperationem vestram suscepti ministerii sui fructum felicius consequantur.” 
Ibid. p. 215, n. 224. 

21. The negligence of some preachers in hearing confessions is reprimanded 
by Fr. Humbertus de Romanis, De eruditione predicatorum lib. 1, c. 43, P. 455, 
with the following words: ‘Circa audientiam confessionum a predicatoribus 
est notandum, quod multi in predicatione commoti solent interdum libenter 
venire ad confitendum predicatori: sed sunt aliqui predicatores, qui omnino 
refugiunt confessiones audire, quamvis ad hoc habeant competentem sufhci- 
entiam. Isti sunt similes agricola, qui libenter seminat et nihil vult metere. 
Per predicationem enim seminatur, per confessionem vero colligitur fructus. . . 
Ad predicatorem, si sit sufficienter idoneus ad confessiones audiendas, pertinet 
quod eas libenter audiat.” 

22. Cf. the utterance, given in the following note, of Innocent IV, in the Bull 
“Esti animarum,” also the letter mentioned on p. 293, addressed to Peter de 
Vineis, the chancellor of Frederick II, and especially the notorious writings of 
William of St. Amour: Tractatus de periculis novissimorum temporum, Opera 
omnia, Constanti& 1632, 17-72. 

23. On March 27, 1248, he wrote to the Bishop of Pampeluna: “‘. . . intel- 
leximus quod tu Fratribus Minoribus, ne in tua civitate ac dicecesi oficium 
predicationis exerceant et confessiones fidelium audiant pro tue interdicis arbi- 
trio voluntatis . . . mandamus, quatenus predictos Fratres verbum Dei pro- 
ponere ac fidelium confessiones in pr&fatis civitate ac dicecesi libere audire per- 
mittas” (Bullar. francisc. I, p. 510, n. 269). He wrote in a similar strain on Jan. 
II, 1249 (ibid. p. 528, n. 298), to the Archbishop of Cologne. 

24. In this Bull “Etsi animarum” of Nov. 21, 1254, (Denifie-Chatelain, 
Chartul. Universit. Paris. t. I, p. 267-272, n. 240), which was addressed to all 
Religious, but in fact was meant only for the Dominicans and Minorites—the 
other monks were not active in the apostolate—(cf. Eccleston coll. XV, p. 118), 
we read the following: ‘‘Sane gravis et clamosa querela nostris assidue auribus 
inculcatur, quod nonnulli vestrum suis iuribus et finibus non contenti paro- 
chianos alienos . . . in foro peenitentiali periculose absolvunt . . . nec Ipsos 
sine sui sacerdotis licentia ad poenitentiam ullatenus admittatis, cum si quis 
alieno sacerdoti iusta de causa sua voluerit confiteri peccata, secundum statuta 
Concilii [Lateran. IV] licentiam prius postulare ac obtinere debeat a proprio 
Er vel saltem prius sibi confiteri et recipere absolutionis benefcium ab 
eodem. 

25. Bull “Nec insolitum” of Dec. 22, 1254, Bullar. francisc. II, p. 3, n. 2. 
Alexander IV wrote it on the day following his coronation, after he had already 
revoked orally the Bull ‘‘Esti animarum”’ of his predecessor on the day of his 
election, Dec. 12, 1254 (Eccleston coll. XV, p. 119 sq.; Chron. XXIV Ministr. 
General. ed. Anal. francisc. III, 278). 

26. Bull ‘‘Patris zeterni” of April 9, 1255, Bullar. francisc. II, p. 29 sq., n. 

27. Their respective writings were published together by (Soldati), 33. 
Thome et Bonaventure opuscula adversus Guillelmum de S. Amore, Rome 1773. 

28. See the comprehensive article of Bäumker, Wilhelm von St. Amour, in: 
Kirchenlexicon XII, 2 Aufl., 1901, 1580-1586. 

29. Especially in the two treatises: Determinationes questionum pars 1, q. 
2, and Quare Fratres Minores predicent et confessiones audiant, Opera VIIL, 337- 
381. 30. Ibid. 338-380. 31. Ibid. 338 sq. 380,n.19. 32. Ibid. 339. 377, n. II. 
33. Ibid. 339. 377, n. 9. 34. Ibid. 372-374. 35. Ibid. 338, n. 12. 

36. Opera IV, 452-455; VIII, 356. 378. 380. This was done, as Bonaventure 
declares in these passages again and again, with reference to the decree of the 
Fourth Lateran Council, according to which everyone was obliged to confess at 
least once a year to his pastor. 

37. “Missi sunt Fratres a Sede apostolica per mundum, muniti eius testimonio, 
qui predictos defectus clericorum, ubi necesse fuerit, suppleant et indigentia 
fidelium subveniant, et non tantum laicos, sed et ipsos clericos et religiosos 


48 THEIDEALSOFST.FRANCIS 


predicationibus instruant, exhortationibus a malo retrahant et in bono con- 
fortent, et in confessionibus poenitentes absolvant et ad vitam gratis trahant, 
insuper ‚exemplis edificent, et orationibus gratiam eis et veniam impetrent apud 
Deum.” Opera VIII, 380, n. 17. 

38. Humbertus de Romanis (De eruditione predicatorum lib. I, c. 20, Max. 
Bibl. PP.t. 25, 442) furnishes the telling as well as spirited proof, that the office 
of preaching is to be esteemed higher than all works of penance and. mercy, 
indeed, even higher than the administration of the Sacraments. Even the hear- 
ing of confessions is not to be preferred to preaching, inasmuch as through con- 
fession only one, but by preaching many, are helped to salvation. 39. See p. 
306. 40. Thom. Cel. In. 23. 

41. “Licet autem vir Dei nondum plene populo predicaret, quando tamen 
per civitates et castella transibat, hortabatur omnes, ut amarent et timerent 
Deum, atque peenitentiam agerent de peccatis. Frater autem Zgidius admone- 
bat audientes, ut ei crederent, quia eis optime consulebat.” Tres Soc. n. 33. 
Exactly so Brother Leo in the Vita fr. Zgidii ed. Anal hee III, 76; cf. Vita B. 
A‘gidit in the Scripta fr. Leonia ed. Lemmens p. 41, n. 

42. Act SS., April t. III, p. 229 sqq.; Menge, Dicia B. Reidii, Ad Claras Aquas 
1905. 43. See p. 134. 

44. “Vadens autem sic per mundum hortabatur homines et mulieres, ut 
Be diligerent et timerent et poenitentiam facerent pro peccatis.” Vita fr. 
Kgidii 77. 

45. “Quocumque vero intrabant civitatem vel castellum aut villam vel 
domum, annuntiabant pacem, confortantes omnes, ut timerent et amarent crea- 
torem celi et terre, eiusque mandata servarent.” Tres Soc. n. 37. 

46. “Hii autem... fervente desiderio et vehemente studio singulis diebus 
laborant, ut animas quz pereunt, a seculi vanitatibus retrahant et eas secum 
ducant. Et iam per gratiam Dei magnum fructum fecerunt et multos lucrati 
sunt ... De die intrant in civitates et villas, ut aliquos lucri faciant operam 
dantes actioni, nocte vero revertuntur ad eremum vel loca solitaria vacantes 
contemplationi.” Jacobi Vitriac. Epist. data Ianue Oct. 1216, Böhmer, Ana- 
lekten 98,n. 8.9. 47. Matth. iii, 2 and Lukeiii,8. 48. Luke vi,37f. 49. Mark 
xi, 26. 50. Regula I, c. 21, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 18 sq., Lemmens 50 sq. 

51. That not only the simple exhortatory address but also the formal dis- 
course was in use in the first decade of the Order, I have proved extensively 
against Karl Miiller and Paul Sabatier in my: Geschichte der wissenschaftl. 
Studien, 33-48. The fact has since been admitted quite generally. 52. See p. 
306f. 53. See p. 306 ff. 

54. “Contrahentibus autem Fratribus moram in loco prefato, vir sanctus die 
quadam sabbati civitatem intravit Assisii, predicaturus mane diei dominice, 
ut moris erat, in ecclesia cathedrali. Cumque in quodam tugurio sito in horto 
canonicorum vir Deo devotus in oratione Dei more solito pernoctaret ...” S. 
Bonav. c. 4, n. 4. In his Testament, in which Francis points to his earliest 
activity, he declares: ‘Si invenirem pauperculos sacerdotes huius seculi, in 
ecclesiis, in quibus morantur, nolo pr&dicare ultra voluntatem ipsorum” (Opusc. 
ed. Böhmer 36, Lemmens 78). Roger of Wendover, Flores historiarum, ed. 
Monum. Germ. hist. Script. XXVIII, 41, relates of the first Franciscan preachers: 
“Diebus autem dominicis et festivis de suis habitaculis exeuntes predicaverunt 
in ecclesiis parochialibus evangelium verbi, edentes et bibentes que apud illos 
erant, quibus officium predicationis impendebant.” That Francis and his 
brothers were heard also outside of the churches, in the market-places, etc., can 
easily be seen from the oldest sources, and is self-evident considering the custom 
of the time. Preaching was done, no doubt, mostly in sacred places (cf. Lecoy 
dela Marche, La chaire francaise au moyen- -öge 226 ss.), yet the itinerant preachers 
regarded any place as their pulpit where the people congregated, (cf. idem. Anec- 
dotes historiques d’Etienne de Bourbon 73-75. 161 S. 229. 292), speaking on all 
possible occasions, such as at solemn investitures of knights, at tournaments, 
at parliament meetings, fairs, etc. (cf. Humbertus de Romanis, De eruditione 
predicatorum lib. 2, Max. Bibl. PP. XXV, 506-568). 


NOTES 489 


55 “In Pentecoste conveniebant omnes fratres apud sanctam Mariam et 
tractabant, qualiter melius possent regulam observare, atque constituebant 
fratres per diversas provincias, qui populo predicarent.” Tres Soc.n. 57. 

56. “Quicumque ex ipsis habebat spiritum Dei et eloquentiam idoneam ad 
predicandum, sive clericus sive laicus esset, dabat ei licentiam pr&dicandi.” 
Ibid. n. 59. 57. Regulal, c. 17, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 15 sq., Lemmens 46. 

58. Regula II, c. 9, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 33, Lemmens 71. Kybal (Die Ordens- 
regeln 151) is in error when he states that according to the final rule only learned 
brothers were permitted to preach, while in the rule of 1221 the brothers were 
selected without reference to their education. In the rule of 1223 the ability of 
the Friars in regard to the office of preaching is simply emphasized more than 
in the one of 1221. Kybal furthermore misunderstands the 17th chapter of the 
rule of 1221. Its meaning is that the Minister is to take the education of the 
candidates into consideration; once a preacher has been approved (approved 
does not mean ‘‘learned’’), he retains the office as long as the superiors see fit; 
if they command that the preacher or the Minister lay down his office, the one 
as well as the other is to obey willingly. 

59. ‘‘Generalis Minister dictam examinationem, approbationem et missionem 
. . . nulli potest absenti committere, sed qui examinatione indigere creduntur, 
mittantur ad ipsum, ut! cum Ministris provincialibus conveniat super hoc in 
capitulo generali. Si qui vero examinari non egent pro eo, quod in theologica 
facultate et predicationis officio sunt instructi, si etatis maturitas et alia, qua 
requiruntur in talibus, conveniant in eisdem, possunt, nisi quibus Minister gene- 
ralis contradixerit, eo modo, quo dictum est, populo predicare.” Bull “Quo 
elongati,”’ Sept. 28, 1230, Bullar. franc. I, p. 69, n. 56. 

60. ‘*Nos devotionis vestre precibus inclinati, ut singuli vestrum in suis Pro- 
vinciis cum Diffinitoribus in provincialibus capitulis congregatis fratres in sacra 
pagina eruditos examinare ac approbare et eisdem officium predicationis, Deum 
habendo pre oculis, committere valeant, vobis auctoritate preesentium concedi- 
mus facultatem.” Bull ‘‘Prohibente Regula,” Dec. 12, 1240, Bullar. francisc. 
1, D. 287, 1.325. 

61. Thom. Cel. I, n. 22; Tres Soc.n. 25. 62. Thom. Cel. I, n. 23. 63. Ibid. 
n. 20. 

64. ‘Ite cum Domino, fratres, et prout Dominus vobis inspirare dignabitur, 
omnibus poenitentiam predicate. Cum enim omnipotens Dominus vos numero 
multiplicabit et gratia, ad me cum gaudio referetis, et ego vobis his plura con- 
cedam et securius maiora committam.” Thom. Cel. I, n. 33. Likewise ibid. 
II, n. 17, and Tres Soc. n. 49-51. 

65. ‘Dominus ita dedit mihi fratri Francisco facere poenitentiam ... ubi- 
cumque [fratres] non fuerint recepti, fugiant ad aliam terram ad faciendam pceni- 
tentiam cum benedictione Dei.” Testament., Opusc. ed Böhmer 36, Lemmens 77. 


66. “Coeperunt . . . viri quidam ipsius exemplo ad poenitentiam animari.” 
Tres Soc. n. 27. En mult } 
“|. confitebantur, quod erant viri poenitentiales de civitate Assisii 


oriundi.” Ibid. n. 37. 

68. “Fratres minores monendi sunt ... ut exemplum pcenitentie, quod 
mundo ostendunt, non maculent aliqua nota in eis reprehensibili, ut sic imma- 
culatum servitium eorum sit aptius exemplar.” Fr. Humberti de Romanis De 
eruditione predicatorum lib. II, tract. 2, c. 26, Max. Bibl. PP. 25, 468. 

69. Iacobi Vitriac., Epist. data 16 Oct. 1216, Böhmer 98, n. 8. 

»o. Thom. Cel. I, n. 37; Tres Soc. n. 54. 

71. The proofs that the Second as well as the Third Order were designated as 
Orders of Penance, are found on p. 12f. Officially of course this title was re- 
served for the Tertiaries. Moreover, religious life as such, whether the eremit- 
ical or the monastic, was called “life of penance” and “state of penance.” 
Jordan of Giano, for instance, says (n. 1): “‘Franciscus vir negotiator . . . in 
habitu heremitico modum pcenitentie est aggressus.”’ Rupert of Deutz (De 
vita vere apostolica lib. I, c. 8, Migne. Patr. lat. 170, 616), in speaking of the 
essence of monastic life, remarks: ‘‘Monachi .. . vitam noscuntur pceniten- 


400 © DHE LD PAWS (Ones Deb Rea a Gs 


tium agere.”” He then explains (ibid. 633), that “not only all monks, but also 
the patriarchs, prophets, apostles and all saints have led a life of penance.” 

72. Cf. the first Chapter. 

73. “Nec tamen Sanctus his contentus ordinibus, satagebat omnium hominum 
generi salutis et poenitentie viam dare.” Liber de laudibus b. Francisci c. 7. 
Similarly Thom. Cel. I, n. 37. 74. Tres Soc. n. 33. 75. Ibid. n. 37. 76. Ibid. 
n. 36. 

77. “. . . eos [viros saculares] provocans ad emendatioris vite viam et 
pcenitentiam peccatorum.” Thom. Cel. I, n. 31. 78. Ibid. n. 36 sq. 

79. Opusculum commonitorium et exhortatorium sive epistolam quam misit 
omnibus fidelibus, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 49-57, Lemmens 87-98. 

80. Thom. Cel. II,n.35. 81. Iord.alanon.16. 82. Seep.291r. 83. Thom. 
Cel. II,n.191. 84. Seep.327f. 85. Regula II, c. 9, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 34, 
Lemmens 71. 

86. ‘““Vocati ab archiepiscopo lugdunensi . . . prohibuit eis, ne intromit- 
terent se de Scripturis exponendis vel predicandis.” Etienne de Bourbon, 
Anecdotes historiques éd. Lecoy de la Marche 291 s. 

87. “. . . Licentia dicecesani episcopi verbum exhortationis proponent his, 
qui convenerint ad audiendum verbum Dei, monentes et inducentes eos ad 
mores honestos et opera pietatis, ita quod de articulis fidei et sacramentis Eccle- 
siz non loquantur.” Tiraboschi, Vetera Humiliatorum monumenta IL, Mediolani 
1767, 134. 

738, That under “the articles of faith and the Sacraments of the Church” the 
dogmatic, under the ‘‘good morals and pious works” the moral truths are to be 
understood, is plain. This distinction was quite universal since the twelfth 
century. Alexander III himself, who was the first to grant the Waldenses per- 
mission to preach (Anonymus Laudanensis, Recueil des Hist. des Gaules XIII, 
682; Monum. Germ. hist. Script. XXVI, 449), divides the whole of theology 
into: ‘‘fides, sacramenta, caritas’’ (mores honesti et opera pietatis). 

89. “Cum autem ex magna parte clerici simus et pene omnes litterati, lec- 
tioni, exhortationi et disputationi contra omnes errorum sectas decrevimus desu- 
dare.” Innocentii III Epist. lib. 11, c. 196, Migne, Patr. lat. 215, 1513. Cf. 
Pierron, Die katholischen Armen, 1911, where p. 172 ff. the entire rule of this 
fraternity is printed. 

go. See the rules of the re-united Lombards of 1210 and 1212 in Pierron, loc. 


cit. 176-182. 
91. “Et eramus idiote.”’ Testam., Opusc. ed. Böhmer 37, Lemmens 81. 92. 

See p. 331 f. 
3. “*. . . ad predicandam fidem christianam et pcenitentiam Sarazenis et 


ceteris infidelibus.” Thom. Cel. I, n. 55. Cf. p. 312 f. 

94. Regula I, c. 16, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 14, Lemmens 44. 

95. Odonis episcopi Parisiens. Synod. constitutiones (1198), v. 32, in: Harduin, 
Acta Concil. VI, pars 2, 1944. 

96. Synod of Trier (1227), in: Mansi, Concil. Collectio XXII, 31, n. VIII. 

97. Synod of Gran (1114), Mansi XXI, 100, c. 2. 

98. Richardi Poore constitut. (1217), c. 3, n. 4, Harduin VII, oo. 

09. Synod of Gran ibid. 100. Synod of Trier ibid. 101. Richardi Poore con- 
stitut. ibid. 102. See the following decree of the Fourth Lateran Council. 

103. ‘‘Unde cum contingat, quod episcopi propter occupationes multiplices, 
vel invaletudines corporales, aut hostiles incursus, seu occupationes alias: (ne 
dicamus defectum scientiz, quod in eis est reprobandum omnino, nec de cetero 
tolerandum): per seipsos non sufficiunt ministrare populo verbum Dei, maxime 
per amplas diceceses et diffusas: generali constitutione sancimus, ut episcopi 
viros idoneos ad sancte pr&dicationis officium salubriter exsequendum assumant, 
potentes in opere et sermone, qui plebes sibi commissas, vice ipsorum, cum per 
se idein nequiverint, sollicite visitantes, eas verbo ediiicent et exemplo ... Unde 
piecipimus tam in cathedralibus quam in aliis conventualibus ecclesiis viros 
idoneos ordinari, quos episcopi possint coadiutores et cooperatores habere, non 
solum in preedicationis officio, verum etiam in audiendis confessionibus et poeni- 


NOTES 491 


tentiis iniungendis ac ceteris, que ad salutem pertinent animarum .. .” Concil. 
Later. IV, c. 10, Harduin VII, 27. 

104. “. . . serendo semina verbi Dei apostolorum exemplo diversas circum- 
eunt mansiones.” Bull ‘‘Cum dilecti,” June 11, 1219, Bullar. francisc. I, p. 
2,n. 2. 

tos. “..... in tantum predicationis opus explere studuit, ut nomen evange- 
liste gestorum strenuitate compensaret .. .. quum multos heretica cerneret 
pravitate delusos, . . . versuta hareticorum dogmata sole lucidius confutavit. 
Ita demum verbum virtutis eius et doctrina salutaris in cordibus audientium 
radices fixit, ut eliminata erroris spurcitia non parva credentium turba Domino 
fideliter adhzreret. In quibus heresiarcham unum, Bonillum nomine, ab annis 
triginta errore infidelitatis abductum.” Vita S. Antonii c. 9, n. 3-6. 

106. ‘Ita quod vulgato ubique vocabulo hereticorum indefessus malleus 
dicebatur.”’ Legenda ‘ Benignitas” (ca. 1300) ed. L. de Kerval p. 220. The 
part which the refutation of heresies played in dogmatic sermons, may be con- 
jectured from the fact that in Lombardy alone there existed seventeen different 
non-Catholoc creeds. Cf. Felice Tocco, L’eresia nel Medioevo, Firenze 1884, 
146, nota. 107. See p. 335. 

108. The most important of these instructions on the exercise of the office of 
preaching are from the pen of the Cistercian Alanus de Insulis (died 1202), 
Summa de arte predicatoria (Migne, Patr. lat. 210. 111-198), and of the Dominican 
General Humbertus de Romanis (ca. 1250), De eruditione predicaterum (Max. 
Bibl. PP. XXV, 420-567). Both restrict themselves to moral themes, i. e. to 
sermon sketches on vices and virtues, for special occasions and set instructions. 
Somewhat later the ‘‘Ars concionandi” originated, which was ascribed to St. 
Bonaventure, but is no doubt not genuine. In this work also moral themes are 
proposed almost exclusively (cf. S. Bonav. Opera IX, 8 sqq.). It closes with the 
remark: ‘‘. . . non est conandum indifferenter causas rerum omnium et effectus 
sustinere, sed maxime rerum moralium, quas volumus commendare vel repro- 
bare, scilicet virtutum, vel vitiorum, vel eorum, que faciunt ad meritum ... 
Unde verissime theologia habet cognoscere vitia et virtutes.” Ibid. n. 51, p. 
20 sq. 109. Bull ‘“Quoniam abundavit,” April 6, 1237, Bullar. francisc. I, p. 
214, n. 224. 110. Bull “Patris zterni,” April 9, 1255, Bullar. francisc. II, p. 
29 SQ., N. 39. 

ııı. They are far more numerous than one might surmise. Lecoy de la 
Marche, La chaire francaise au moyen-äge, Paris, 1886, 495-531, enumerates 
about fifty Minorite preachers of the thirteenth century, of whom manuscript 
sermons are preserved in the Bibliothéque Nationale at Paris. Cf. the sermons 
of St. Bonaventure, Opera VIII, 23-731. The sermons which were published 
under the name of St. Anthony of Padua, must be examined as to their authen- 
ticity before an opinion may be ventured. The various editions of these are 
mentioned by Léon de Kerval, S. Antonit Vite due, Paris 1904. 

112. We base this opinion not so much on the German sermons which have 
been published under the name of Berthold of Regensburg, but on the much 
more numerous Latin sermons, of which he is undoubtedly the author. 

113. Cf. of the excellent article of Anton Schénbach, Das Wirken Bertholds 
gegen die Ketzer, in: Sitzungsberichte der K. Akademie der Wissenschafien in Wien. 
147 Band, Wien 1904. 

II4. He deplores the fact that so many preachers only moralize: ‘‘Scio pluri- 
mos minus curare aliqua de fide in sermonibus proponere, sed pro communi 
utilitate nihil utilius iudico in predicatione, quam quasi semper aliqua de fide 
inserere, maxime in mane, ut ardentius cordibus imprimatur. Nimis enim heu 
heretici nunc latenter multiplicantur et fervor fidei etiam in cordibus fidelium 
nimis debilitatur.” Thus Berthold in a sermon on faith (de fide), Schönbach, 
foc. cit. 12; cf. 20. 

115. Rogeri Baconis Compendium studit philosophie c. 5. ed, Brewer, London 
1859, 427. 

ta See Anselm. Cantuar. De concordia prescientie Dei cum libero arbitrio q. 
3, c.6 ed. Migne, Pair. lat. 158, 528. 


492. SIE ED AIS (Ole Der AN ES 


117. See Felder, Geschichte der wissenschaftl. Studien 490-496. 

118. “Principalis intentio ecclesiz et ultimus finis est opus predicationis, ut 
infideles ad fidem convertantur et fideles in fide et moribus conserventur. Sed 
quia utrumque vulgus predicantium ignorat, ideo convertit se ad summam et 
infinitam curiositatem, scilicet per divisiones porphyrianas, et per consonantias 
ineptas verborum et clausularum, et per consonantias vocales, in quibus est sola 
vanitas verbosa, omni carens ornatu rhetorico et virtute persuadendi. Quoddam 
enim phantasma est pueriliter effusum et a pueris inventum, vacuis ab omni 
sapientia et eloquendi potestate... Et tamen est ibi maxima temporis con- 
sumptio. Nam propter curiositatis superfluitatem plus in decuplo laborant 
circa huiusmodi telam aranex construendam, quam circa sententiam sermonis.”’ 
Rogeri Baconis Opus tertium c. 75 ed. Brewer 304. ‘‘Que fiunt in textu princi- 
paliter legendo et predicando sunt tria principaliter: scilicet divisiones per mem- 
bra varia . . . concordantie violentes . . . et consonantiz rhythmice.” Ibid., 
Opus minus 323. 119. See p. 44-55. 120. See p. 303. 307. 

ee Epistola ad omnes fideles, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 55 sq., Lemmens 95-97. 122. 
Ps. cxliii, 1. 

123. “In hoc capitulo beatus Franciscus assumpto themate: ‘Benedictus 
Dominus Deus meus, qui docet manus meas ad prelium’ fratribus preedicavit et 
docens virtutes et monens ad patientiam et ad exempla mundo demonstranda. 
Similiter fiebat sermo ad populum, et fiebat edificatio in populo et in clero.” 
Tord. a. Iano n. 16. 

124. ‘‘Procedit sapiens sacco vestitus et cinere adspersus caput, et mirantibus 
cunctis, facto plus predicans, abbreviat verba: ‘Magna, inquit, promisimus, 
maiora promissa sunt, servemus hec, suspiremus ad illa. Voluptas brevis, 
poena perpetua, modica passio, gloria infinita. Multorum vocatio, omnium 
retributio.” Erumpunt in lacrimas auditorum corda compuncta, vereque sapi- 
entem venerantur ut sanctum. ‘Heccine, ait simplex in corde suo, totum mihi 
preripuit sapiens quidquid facere vel dicere statui. Sed novi quid faciam. 
Scio quosdam versus de psalmis; geram ergo sapientis morem, postquam ille 
simplicis morem gessit.” Advenit crastina sessio, surgit simplex, psalmum pro- 
ponit in themate. Divino igitur afflatus spiritu tam ferventer, subtiliter, dulciter 
ex inspirato Dei dono perorat, ut omnes repleti stupore dicant: ‘Cum simplicibus 
sermocinatio eius.’”? Thom. Cel. II, n. 192. 

125. ‘‘Eodem anno in die assumptionis Dei genetricis, cum essem Bononie in 
studio, vidi sanctum Franciscum predicantem in platea ante palacium publicum, 
ubi tota pene civitas convenerat. Fuit autem exordium sermonis eius: ‘Angeli, 
homines, demones.’ De his tribus spiritibus racionalibus ita bene et diserte 
proposuit, ut multis literatis, qui aderant, fieret admiracioni non modice sermo 
hominis ydiote. Nec tamen ipse modum predicantis tenuit, sed quasi concio- 
nantis. Tota verborum eius discurrebat materies ad extinguendas inimicicias et 
ad pacis federa reformanda.’” Thome, Archidiaconi Spalatensis Historia Pon- 
tificum Salonitanorum et Spalatinorum ed. Heinemann, Monum. Germ. hist. 
Script. XXIX, Hannovere 1892, 580. 

126. “Non distinctionum clavibus utebatur, quia quos ipse non inveniebat 
non ordinabat sermones.” Thom. Cel. II, n. 107. 127. See above, note 118. 

128. Lecoy de la Marche, who is very competent, says (La chaire francaise au 
moyen-dge 140): ‘‘Les Fréres Mineurs ont suivi, au XIIlieme siécle, la méme 
voie que les Fréres Précheurs. On peut dire, cependant, que leur prédication a 
toujours conservé une allure plus populaire . . . Alors méme qu’ils subissent 
l’empire de la scolastique, leur langage garde plus de simplicité; il exerce d’action 
sur les masses. C’est ce qu’indiquent, du moins, la nature de leur succés et les 
récits de contemporains.”’ 

129. “‘Sed licet vulgus preedicantium sic utatur [the learned dialectic sermon 
is meant], tamen aliqui modum alium habentes, infinitam faciunt utilitatem, ut 
est frater Bertholdus Alemannus, qui solus plus facit de utilitate magnifica in 
predicatione, quam fere omnes alii fratres ordinis utriusque.” Rogeri Baconis 
Opus tertium c, 75, P. 310. 


NOTES 493 


130. . alta et clara voce laudes gallice cantans benedicebat et glorificabat 
Altissimi bonitatem.” Tres Soc. n. 33. 131. Thom. Cel. I, n. 72. 

132. Very many preachers were wont, as was the custom for centuries (cf. 
Conc. Remens. II, can, 15. in Harduin IV, 1019; Conc. Moguntinum I, c. 2, 
ibid. V, 8; Hincmari archiep. Remens. Capitula 8, ibid. V, 392), to memorize 
a number of homilies from the Fathers or other model sermons of noted homil- 
es to recite them uniformly for years (cf. Lecoy dela Marche, 322). 133. 

s. xliii, 16. 

134. Thom. Cel. I, n. 73; S. Bonav. c. 12, n. 7; Stephanus de Borbone, O. P. 
Tractatus de septem donis Spiritus Sancti pars 4, titulus 5, in: Lecoy dela Marche, 
Anecdotes historiques d’ Etienne de Bourbon 215, S., n. 254; 407, N. 473. 

135. ‘“‘Revera constantissimus erat valde, et in nullo, nisi quod erat Domini, 
attendebat. Nam cum inter multa millia hominum verbum Dei sepissime 
predicaret, ita securus erat, ac si cum familiari socio loqueretur. Populorum 
maximam multitudinem quasi virum unum cernebat, et uni quasi multitudini 
diligentissime prsdicabat.” Thom. Cel. I, n. 72. ‘Eadem mentis constantia 
magnis loquebatur et parvis, eademque spiritus iucunditate paucis loquebatur 
et multis.” S. Bonav. c. 12, n. 8. 

136. “‘Facundissimus homo, facie hilaris, vultu benignus . . . lingua placa- 


«ce 


bilis, ignea et acuta; vox vehemens, dulcis, clara et sonora. . . Dabat voci 
suz vocem virtutis vera virtus et sapientia Christus.” Thom. Cel. I, n. 83; II, 
n. 107. 


137. ‘‘Erant autem verba eius non inania, nec risu digna, sed virtute Spiritus 
Sancti plena, cordis medullas penetrantia, ita ut in stuporem vehementer con- 
verterent audientes.” Tres Soc. n. 26. ‘‘Erat enim verbum eius velut ignis 
ardens (Eccli. xlviii, 1), penetrans intima cordis, omniumque mentes admira- 
tione replebat, cum non humane inventionis ornatum pretenderet, sed divine 
revelationis afflatum redoleret.” S. Bonav. c. 12, n. 7. 

138. “‘Nec tamen ipse modum predicantis tenuit, sed quasi concionantis.” 
Ex Thome Historia pontificum Salonitanorum et Spalatensium, Böhmer 106. 

139. ‘“Omnis etas omnisque sexus properabat virum novum mundo celitus 
datum et cernere et audiere.”’ S. Bonav.c. 12, n. 8. 

140. ‘*. . . de toto corpore fecerat linguam.” Thom. Cel. I, n. 97. 

141. Bohmer, Analekten L, where the references are also given for the above. 

142. “Qui [F ranciscus] coram tantis principibus assistens, licentia et bene- 
dictione suscepta, intrepidus loqui ccepit. Et quidem cum tanto fervore spiritus 
loquebatur, quod non se capiens pre letitia, cum ex ore verbum proferret, pedes 
quasi saliendo movebat, non ut lasciviens, sed ut igne divini amoris ardens, non 
ad risum movens, sed planctum doloris extorquens. Multi enim ipsorum com- 
puncti sunt, divinam gratiam et tantam viri constantiam admirantes. Verum 
venerabilis Dominus episcopus Hostiensis timore suspensus erat, totis visceribus 
orans ad Dominum, ne beati viri contemneretur simplicitas, quoniam in eum 
sancti gloria resultabat et dedecus, eo quod erat pater super eius familiam con- 
stitutus.” Thom. Cel. I, n. 73. This record evidently is traceable to Cardinal 
Hugolino himself, who had commissioned Thomas of Celano to write the life of 
Francis. 143. Spec. perf. c. 100, Pp. 197 SQ. 

144. “Quoniam sibi primo suaserat opere, quod verbis aliis suadebat, et non 
timens reprehensorem, veritatem fidentissime loquebatur.” Thom. Cel. ea 
36. Likewise Tres Soc. n. 54. 

145. ‘‘Nam cum doctrina evangelica, etsi non particulariter sed generaliter 
defecisset, missus est hic a Deo, ut universaliter per totum mundum, aposto- 
lorum exemplo, perhiberet testimonium veritati. Sicque factum est, ut doc- 
trina sua omnem mundi sapientiam ostenderet evidentissime fore stultam, et 
brevi spatio temporis ad veram sapientiam Dei, per stultitiam predicationis, 
inclinaverit, Christo duce.” Thom. Cel. I, n. 89. 

146. ‘‘Sicque in preparatione Evangelii discalceatus in ecclesiis parochialibus 
et aliis fidelium conventiculis pr&dicationis officium implevit [Franciscus]; quod 
tanto efficacius cordibus audientium imprimere potuit quanto a carnalibus 
desideriis et gastrimargi@ crapulis exstitit alienus.” Rogerus de Wendover, 


44 THEIDEALS OF ST. FRANCIS 


Chronica, Archiv. francisc. hist. I, 81. ‘‘Non solum autem predicatione, sed 
exemplo vite sancte et conversationis perfecte multos non solum inferiores 
ordinis homines, sed generosos et nobiles ad mundi contemptum invitant, qui 
relictis oppidis et casalibus et amplis possessionibus temporales divitias in 
spirituales felici commercio commutantes habitum fratrum Minorum ... 
assumpserunt.” lIacobi Vitriac. Hist. orientalis c. 32, Böhmer 103 sq. 

147. ‘“‘Saluti namque animarum prestare nihil dicebat . . . Hinc sibi in 
oratione luctamen, in pradicatione discursus, in exemplis dandis excessus.” 
Thom. Cel. IT, n. 172. 

148. ‘‘Affrmabat Minores fratres novissimo tempore idcirco a Deo missos ut 
peccatorum obvolutis caligine lucis exempla monstrarent.” Ibid.n. 155. 

149. “‘Eamus per mundum exhortando omnes plus exemplo quam verbo ad 
agendam pcenitentiam de peccatis suis et habendam memoriam mandatorum 
Dei.” Tres Soc. n. 36. 

150. ‘‘Commercium est inter mundum et fratres; debent ipsi mundo bonum 
exemplum, debet mundus eis provisionem necessariam. Quando ipsi retrax- 
erint bonum exemplum fide mentita, retrahit mundus manum iusta censura.’ 
Thom. Cel. II, n. 70. 

TST. “Omnes tamen fratres operibus pr&dicent.” Regula I, c. 17, Opusc. ed. 
Böhmer 16, Lemmens 46. 152. Ezech. iii, 18. 

153. “Dixit ad eum b. Franciscus: Si verbum universaliter debet intelligi, 
taliter ego accipio, quod servus Dei sic debet vita et sanctitate in se ardere, ut 
luce exempli et lingua conversationis omnes impios reprehendant. Sic, inquam, 
splendor vite eius et odor famz ipsius omnibus annuntiabit iniquitatem eorum.” 
Thom. Cel. II, n. 103. 154. Spec. perf. c. 87, p. 177. 155. Thom. Cel. II, n. 
156. 156. Ibid. n. 155. 

157. “Non se poterat pre gaudio capere sanctus Franciscus tali respersus 
filiorum odore. Subito surrexit in laudem, et quasi hec sola sibi gloria foret, 
audire bona de fratribus, plenis eructavit visceribus: Gratias tibi ago, Domine, 
pauperum sanctificator et rector, qui me de fratribus meis tali letificasti auditu. 
Benedic, precor, illos fratres benedictione largissima, et omnes, qui per bona 
ee redolere faciunt professionem suam, speciali dono sanctifica.” Ibid. 
n. 178. 


CHAPTER XVII 


1. Twenty years ago I treated this subject in my book: Geschichte der wissen- 
schaftlichen Studien im Franziskanerorden bis um die Mitte des 13. Jahrhunderts, 
Freiburg i, Br. 1904. This book dispelled the erroneous impressions of many 
students who claimed that Francis and his primitive institute were opposed to 
the study of sciences; doubts, however, were expressed that ‘‘perhaps the 
author in defending St. Francis from the patently unjust accusation of being 
averse to science and of underestimating its value, has somewhat overshot the 
mark.” (P. Eubel, Lit. Rundschau, 1905, 332). Franz X. Seppelt reviewed my 
arguments in a treatise (Wissenschaft und Franziskanerorden, ihr Verhältniss 
im ersten Jahrzehnt des letzteren, in: Kirchengeschichtliche Abhandlungen her- 
ausgeg. von Sdralek, 4, Bd., Breslau 1906, 151-179), insofar as they had ref- 
erence to the time preceding 1221. My arguments, he says in conclusion, 
“appear at times to confound conditions of a later period with those of the first 
decade of the Order, and are not free from a tendency to see all later develop- 
ments in embryonic state in the first happenings of the Order” (loc. cit. 178). 
However, despite the difference of opinions as regards particulars, the sum total 
of the conclusions reached on both sides amounts to almost the same thing. I 
expressed my opinion in the words: “It would be a false deduction were one, 
basing his conclusions on the apostolate of the Friars prior to 1219, to look for 
important, even if private, contributions to scientific research among the Fri riars 
of this period.” (Geschichte 49). Seppelt (loc. cit. 169) expresses himself in 


NOSES 495 


almost the same words: “If we do not wish to lose ourselves i in idle speculations 
but adhere to solid facts, and not strip the term ‘science’ of its meaning as then 
understood, we can hardly speak of science as existing in the Order.” The 
present chapter aims at presenting the matter again in a comprehensive way 
with reference to our former treatment of the subject and taking into account 
all well-founded observations of our critics. 

2. S. Bonaventura, Determinationes questionum, pars I, q. 3: ‘“‘Cur fratres 
intendant studio litterarum?’’ Opera VIII, 339. With the Dominicans also 
studies had to be placed entirely in the service of the apostolate. “Cum Ordo 
noster specialiter ob preedicationem et animarum salutem ab initio noscatur 
institutus fuisse et studium nostrum ab hoc principaliter ardenterque summo- 
pere debet intendere, ut proximorum animabus possimus utiles esse,’’ we read 
in the Prologue to the Constitutions of the Order of Preachers of 1228, published 
by P. Denifie, in: Archiv für Lit.-und Kirchengeschichte, des Mittelalters I, 104. 
If we find no traces of scientific activity in the contemporary Orders of monks, 
it is due to the fact that they were not engaged in the active ministry. 

3. Rogerus de Wendover, Chronica, in: Archiv, francisc. I, 81; Matthzus 
Paris. Historia maior ed. Wats, London 1640, 222; cf. 339 sqq. 

4. “Quamvis homo iste beatus nullis fuerit scientize studiis enutritus.” 
Thomas Cel. II, n. 102. According to Fr. Stephen de Borbone, Francis was 
“simplex in litteratura,’’ ““homo valde parum litteratus”’ (Lecoy de la Marche, 
Anecdotes d’ Etienne de Bourbon p. 215, n. 254; P. 407, n. 473). Likewise the 
Spec. perf.c. 45. According to Angelus Clarinus (Historia septem tribulationum 
ed Döllinger, Beiträge zur Sektengeschichte II, 441. 451) Francis was ““‘illitteratus 
respectu multorum sapientium [Ordinis Min.] patrum.” 

. *. . . cum beatus Franciscus idiotam se diceret.”” Thom. Cel. II, n. 103. 

6. ae? Ducange- Carpenterius, Glossar. ad scriptores medie et infime latinitatis 
s. v. “‘idiota.” 

7. “Et eramus idiotz et omnibus subditi.” Testament., Opusc. ed. Böhmer 
37, Lemmens 79. 

8. Thus Fr. Sylvester (Thom. Cel. II, n. 109), Fr. Petrus Catanei (Iord. a 
Iano n. 11 sq.). 9. Thom. Cel. I, n. 23; S. Bonav. c. 15, n. 5. 

10. Thom. Cel. I, n. 16; II, n. 13. 127. Of course “at that time French and 
Italian were little more than dialects of one common mother-tongue, so that 
their use was customary even in the lower classes of the people.” M. (argaret) 
L. (iscow), Der heilige Franziskus, Preussische Jahrbücher, Bd. 87 (1897) 288. 
13: Ihom. Cel. Tn. 22. 

12. Cf. Emil Michael, Geschichte des deutschen Volkes seit dem 13. Jahrhundert 
I, 3. Aufl., Freiburg 1897, 229 f. 

13. Referring to a still living eye-witness, St. Bonaventure declares (Epistola 
de tribus questionibus ad M agisirum innominatum, Opera VIII, 334, D. 10): 

Cum paucas litteras sciret, postmodum in litteris profecit in Ordine, 
non solum orando, sed etiam legendo.” 

14. “Infirmanti sibi et undique pervaso doloribus dixit aliquando socius 
eius: Pater, semper ad Scripturas confugium habuisti, semper ille tibi dolorum 
prebuere remedia. Fac, oro, et nunc tibi de prophetis aliquid legi...” Thom. 
Cel. II, n. 105. 

15. ‘‘Legebat quandoque in sacris libris, et quod animo semel iniecerat, inde- 
lebiliter scribebat in corde. Memoriam pro libris habebat, quia non frustra semel 
capiebat auditus, quod continua devotione ruminabat affectus. Hunc discendi 
legendique modum fructuosum dicebat, non per millenos evagari tractatus . 
Enodabat frequenter quedam dubia quzestionum, et imperitus verbis intellectum 
et virtutem luculenter promebat.” Ibid. 102. 16. Seppelt loc. cit. 170. 17. 
Thom. Cel. II, n. 103. 

18. ‘‘Fratres mei, theologia huius viri, puritate et contemplatione subnixa, 
est aquila volans; nostra vero scientia ventre graditur super terram.” Ibid. 

19. According to Angelus Clarinus, Historia septem tribulationum, tribul. 1, 
ed. Döllinger, Beiträge zur Sektengeschichte II, 442. 

20. “‘Quamvis homo iste beatus nullis fuerit scientiz studiis enutritus, tamen 


A067 SIE FUE VLD EV Aes TO Has ela BERND Cale 


que de sursum est a Deo sapientiam discens, et ztern& lucis irradiatus fulgoribus 
de scripturis [of theology] non infime sentiebat. Penetrabat enim ab omni labe 
purum ingenium mysteriorum abscondita, et ubi magistralis scientia foris est, 
affectus introibat amantis.” Thom. Cel. Tl, n. 102. 

21. ‘‘Hic vero, cum in via Dei et ipsius cognitione a primevo iuventutis flore, 
parum vel nihil esset instructus .. . gratia et virtute Altissimi super omnes 
tempore suo repertos divina sapientia ‘est repletus.” Thom. Cel. I, n. 89. 

22. Cf. Léon le Monnier, Histoire de St. Frangois II, ame éd., Paris 1891, 85. 

23. Dante, Divina Com., Paradiso, canto II. 

24. “Hi sunt duo Cherubim, pleni scientia . . ,” say the two Generals of 
the Mendicant Orders, Fr. Humbertus de Romanis and Fr. John of Parma, in 
their joint circular of 1255, in: Wadding, Annal. ad a. 1255, n. 12. 25. Dante 
loc. cit. verse 37-39. 

26. “Circuibat proinde fortissimus miles Christi Franciscus civitates et cas- 
tella, non in persuasibilibus humanae sapientiz verbis, sed in doctrina et virtute 
Spiritus annuntians regnum Dei.” Thom. Cel. I, n. 36; Cf. n. 72. 89. Exactly 
so Tres Soc. n. 54. 

27. ‘‘Predicat . . . eructans de pleno, quidquid Spiritus suggerit.” Thom. 
Cel. IT, n. 25. 

28. “Nolite timere, quia pusilli et despecti videamini et insipientes, sed 
secure annuntiate simpliciter ponitentiam, confidentes in Domino, qui vicit 
mundum, quod spiritu suo loquitur per vos et in vobis ad exhortandum omnes, 
ut convertantur ad ipsum et eius mandata observent.” Tres Soc. n. 36. 

29. “Quicumque ex ipsis spiritum Dei habebat et eloquentiam idoneam ad 
predicandum, sive clericus sive laicus esset, dabat ei licentiam predicandi.” 
Tres.S0c.n. 5927.30. 61. Dass |, 

31. “Ad predicatores pertinet scientia, ut sint exercitati in utroque Testa- 
mento et sententiarum examine discreti.”v Alanus ab Insulis, Summa de arte 
predicatoria c. 38, Migne, Patr. lat. 210, 183. 

32. Odonis episc. Paris. Synodice constitut. n. 41, Harduin VI, 1945. 

33. Mansi, Conciliorum collectio XXII, 31-32. 34. Seep. 337. 35. Seep. 335 f. 

36. ieee Mapes, De nugis curialium, Camden Society 1850, 64 f. 37. See 
Pp. 335 1. 

38. Cf. Denifle, Die Konstitutionen des Predigerordens vom Jahre 1228, in: 
Archiv. für Lit.-und Kirchengeschichte des Mittelalters I, 184-192. 39. See p. 
336 ff. 40. See p. 321 ff. 41. See p. 372 ff. 

42. Cf. Felder, Geschichte der wissenschaftl. Studien 49 f. 43. Denifle loc. cit. 
223,n. 31. 44. S. Bonav., Epist. de tribus questionibus n. 10, Opera VIII, 334. 

45. “Bonum est Scripture testimonia legere, bonum est Dominum Deum 
nostrum in ipsis exquirere; mihi vero tantum iam ipse de Scripturis adlegi, quod 
meditanti et revolventi satissimum est.” Thom. Cel. II, n. 105. 

46. “Ministros verbi Dei tales volebat, qui studiis spiritualibus intendentes 
nullis aliis prepedirentur officiis. Hos enim a quodam magno rege dicebat 
electos ad edicta, que ex eius ore’perciperent, populis demandanda.”’ Ibid. n. 163. 

47. Proved in: Felder, Geschichte der wissenschaftl. Studien 74-76. 

48. As is well known, Dominic simply adopted the Augustinian rule, which has 
no place for studies. Still, even during the lifetime of the Founder decisive 
norms of study were issued for the members of the Order (Fr. Humbertus de 
Romanis, De eruditione predicatorum, Max. bibl. PP. XXV, 631 F, and espe- 
cially Denifle loc. cit. 187), to which the relevant decisions of the oldest Constitu- 
tions of the Order dating from 1228 are attached (Denifle loc. cit. 194. 197. 222. 
223.). 49. Regula II, c. 5, Opusc. ed Böhmer 32, Lemmens 68. 

50. See p. 120 ff. The fifth chapter of the rule is interpreted thus by the oldest 
constitutions of the Order, published in the lifetime of the last disciples of Fran- 
cis: “Cum Regula dicat, quod fratres, quibus dedit Dominus gratiam laborandi, 
laborent fideliter et devote, ordinamus quod fratres tam clerici quam laici com- 
pellantur per suos superiores in scribendo, studendo et aliis laboribus sibi com- 
petentibus exerceri’’ (P. Ehrle, Die ältesten Generalkonstitutionen des Franzis- 
kanerordens, in: Archiv. fiir Lit.-und Kirchengeschichte IV, 104). ‘‘Quia igitur 


NOTES 497 


quidam Fratrum gratiam habent laborandi spiritualiter, quidam vero corpora- 
liter, omnibus dans regulam generalem, dicit, ut unusquisque gratia sua utatur.” 
S: Bonav., Expositio Regule FF. Min. c. 5, n. 4, Opera VIII, 420. Cf£. idem, De 
te evang. q. 2, a. 3, n. 16, Opera V, 165. 

“Et non curent nescientes litteras litteras discere.’”’ Regula II, c. 10, 
Obie. ed. Böhmer 34, Lemmens 72. 

52. “Fratri laico volenti habere psalterium, et ab eo licentiam postulanti, 
cinerem pro psalterio obtulit.” Thom. Cel. II, n. 195. This anecdote is related 
more fully in Spec. perf. c. 4 and by Fr. Ubertinus de Casali, Declaratio, ed. 
Ehrle. Archiv III, 177. 

53. ‘‘Dolebat si, virtute neglecta, scientia queereretur, preesertim si non in 
ea vocatione quisque persisteret, in qua vocatus a principio fuerit.” Thom. 
Cel. II, n. 195. The same regulations for the lay brothers are found in the con- 
stitutions of the Order of Preachers of 1228 (loc. cit. 127): ““Conversis, qui nunc 
habent psalteria, tantum duobus annis liceat retinere ab inde, et ipsis aliis psal- 
teria inhibemus . . . Item nullus conversus fiat canonicus, nec in libris causa 
studendi se audeat occupare.” 

Sa. Ss Bönavı c. irs Wer? 83. 1 Cor. vil,:20. 

56. S. Bonav., Epistola de tribus quest. n. 10, Opera VIII, 334. 

57. Regula II, c. 9, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 33, Lemmens 71. 


Shy quod i in theologica facultate et pr&dicationis officio sunt instructi.” 
Bulla “Quo elongati’’ of Sept. 28, 1230, Bullar. francisc. I, 69, n. 56. 
59. Fratres in sacra Pagina eruditos examinare ac approbare et eis 


” 


officium priedicationis, Deum habendo pre oculis, committere valeant .. . 
Bulla ‘‘ Prohibente Regula” of Dec. 12, 1240, Bullar. francisc. I, 287, n. 325. 

60. Regula II, ibid. 61. See p. 340. 

62. Rogeri Baconis Compendium studii philosophie c. 5, ed. Brewer 427. 

63. See p. 337. 338. 64. Migne, Pair. lat. 205, 25. 

65. De adventu Min. in Angliam ed. Little 60. 66. See Felder loc. cit. 263 ff. 

67. Fr. Nicolai Triveti, O. P. Annales sex regum Anglia, qui a comitibus ande- 
gavensibus originem traxerunt ed. Thomas Hog, Londiniz 1845, 212. 68. Ibid. 
230. 

69. “Licet autem fratres summe simplicitati et conscientiz puritati summo- 
pere studerent in omnibus, in audienda tamen lege divina et scholasticis exer- 
citiis ita fuerunt ferventes, ut scholas theologie, quantumcumque distarent adire 
quotidie nudis pedibus in frigoris asperitate et luti profunditate non pigrita- 
rentur.” Ibid. 33. 70. Cf. Felder loc. cit. 380-546. 71. Proved in Felder loc. 
cut. 135-141. 

72. According to Chron. XXIV General. ed. Anal. francisc. III, 132, it was 
done by means of the following letter: “Carissimo meo fratri Antonio frater 
Franciscus salutem in Domino. Placet mihi, quod sacram theologiam legas 
fratribus, dummodo propter huiusmodi studium sanctz orationis et devotionis 
spiritum non extinguant, sicut in Regula continetur. Vale.” According to Fr. 
Nicolaus Glassberger, Chronica ed. Anal. francisc. II, 34, the letter reads ı exactly 
as cited, while Petr. Rodulph. Tossinian., Historiarum seraphice religionis libri 
tres. lib. 1, Venetiis 1586, 78, and other writers since the fifteenth century give a 
somewhat varying text version. The wording of the letter is therefore not cer- 
tain, but it is evident from Thom. Cel. (see note 76), that Francis in fact wrote 
to Anthony. 

73. “Fratri Antonio episcopo meo.” Thom. Cel. II, n. 163. 74. Iord. a. 
Iano n. 12. 

75. “Quos [litteratos et nobiles], ut erat animo nobilissimus et discretus 
honorifice atque digne pertractans, quod suum erat unicuique piissime impen- 
debat. Revera discretione precipua preditus, considerabat prudenter in omni- 
bus cunctorum graduum dignitatem.” Thom. Cel. I, n. 57. 

76. “‘Reverendum hoc dicebat officium [praedicationis], et qui illud adminis- 
trarent, omnibus venerandos . . . Sacre vero theologie doctores amplioribus 
dignos censebat honoribus.” Ibid. II, n. 163. 

77. “Et omnes theologos et qui ministrant sanctissima verba divina debemus 


48 THEIDEALSOFST.FRANCIS 


honorare et venerari sicut qui ministrant nobis spiritum et vitam.” Testam., 
Opusc. ed. Böhmer 37, Lemmens 79. S. Bonav., Epist. de tribus quest, n. to, 
Opera VIII, 335, remarks hereto: ‘In morte mandavit fratribus, quod doctores 
‘sacre Scripture in summa veneratione haberent tamquam illos, a quibus perci- 
perent verba vita.” 

78. ‘“Coeperunt multi de populo, nobiles et ignobiles, clerici et laici, divina 
inspiratione compuncti, ad sanctum Franciscum accedere, cupientes sub eius 
disciplina et magisterio perpetuo militare.” Thom. Cel. I, n. 37. 

79. “Statim namque quamplures boni et idonei viri, clerici et laici . . . eum 
devote secuti sunt.” Ibid.n. 56. 

80. ‘*. . . quidam litterati viri et quidam nobiles ei gratissime adhzserunt.” 
Ibid. n. 57. 

81. “Triginta viri clerici et laici tunc temporis ab ipso sancte# Religionis 
habitum susceperunt.” Jbid. n. 62. 

82. Festinabant proinde multi homines, nobiles et ignobiles, clerici et laici 
divina inspiratione inflati beati Francisci vestigiis adhwrere.”” Tres Soc. n. 54. 
Likewise Walteri de Gysburne Chronica de gestis regum Anglie ed. Monum. 
Germ. hist. Script. XXVIII, 631, lin. 31-36. 

83. Matthai Paris. Chron. maiora ed. Monum. Germ. hist. Script. XXVIII, 
248, lin. 1-6. 84. Iacobi Vitriac. Epist. scripta a. 1220, Mart., Böhmer ror sq. 

85. Proved in Felder, loc. cit. 113-120. 

86. Rogeri Baconis Compendium studii philosophie c. 5, ed. Brewer 426 sq. 

87. For these statements see Felder Joc. cit. 113-120. 

88. Bernard a Bessa (Catalogus Gen. Ministr. ed. P. Hilarin. 97, Annal. fran- 
cisc. III, 695) says of him: “Vir adeo in sapientia etiam humana famosus, ut 
raros in ea pares Italia putaretur habere.” Salimbene de Parma (Chron. 404) 
enumerates the many faults of Brother Elias and then adds: ‘Hoc solum habuit 
bonum frater Helyas, quia Ordinem fratrum Minorum ad studium theologie 
promovit.” 89. See Felder loc. cit. 121, note 4. 

oo. For these and the following statements see Felder, loc. cit. 123-316. 

or. “*. . . Cum etiam propter litteratorum inopiam nec adhuc per seculares 
potuerit observari statutum Lateranensis Concilü, ut in singulis ecclesiis essent 
aliqui, qui theologiam docerent; quod tamen per religiosos gratia Dei cernis 
multo latius impletum, quam etiam fuerit statutum.” Contra impugnantes 
Dei cultum et religionem c. 4, n. 12, ed. (Soldati), SS. Thome et Bonaventure 
Opuscula contra Guillelmum de S. Amore, Rome 1773, 76. 

92. ‘‘Propter scholarium apud nos in theologia studentium raritatem, cum 
iam in civitatibus et aliis locis maioribus universis per fratres eosdem mendicantes 
et alios non sine grandi periculo dictz litter doceantur.” Denifle-Chatelain, 
Chartular. Universit. Paris. I, 254, n. 230. 

93. ‘‘Nunquam fuit tanta apparentia sapientiz, nec tantum exercitium studii 
in tot facultatibus, in tot regionibus, sicut iam a quadraginta annis. Ubique 
enim doctores sunt dispersi, et maxime in theologia in omni civitate, et in omni 
castro, et in omni burgo; pracipue per duos Ordines studentes, quod non accidit 
nisi a quandraginta annis, vel circiter.” Compendium studii phil. c. 1, ed. 
Brewer 398. 

94. The larger number of schools of the Mendicants were public, and open to 
all. Just as no one dreamed of closing the churches to the public, and of restrict- 
ing the word of God to one class, just so little would a professor of theology have 
thought ordinarily of keeping his lecture room open only for the clerics of his 
house or monastery. Closed schools or houses of study in the stricter sense 
existed only where no thorough schooling was aimed at or where the attendance 
of scholars living elsewhere was not to be reckoned with. See the proofs in 
Felder loc. cit. 329-332. 

95. ‘‘Propter quod accidit, ut seculares a quadraginta annis nullum composu- 
erint in theologia tractatum, nec reputant se aliquid posse scire, nisi per decem 
annos, vel amplius, audiant pueros duorum Ordinum. Nec aliter praesumunt 
legere sententias, nec incipere in theologia, nec unam lectionem, nec disputa- 
tionem, nec predicationem, nisi per quaternos puerorum in dictis Ordinibus; 


NOTES 499 


sicut manifestum est omnibus in studio Parisiis et ubique.” Roger. Bacon. ibid 
c. 5, P. 428 sq. ‘‘Pueri duorum Ordinum”’ are called by Bacon the Mendicant 
teachers as Albert the Great, Thomas of Aquinas, etc. Ibid. p. 426. 

96. The famous doctor and preacher Petrus Cantor expresses the view of his 
time on the unity of studies and preaching in the words: “In tribus igitur con- 
sistit exercitium sacre Scripture [i. e. of theology]: circa lectionem, disputationem 
et predicationem .. . Lectio autem est quasi fundamentum et substratum 
sequentium; quia per eam cetere utilitates comparantur. Disputatio quasi 
paries est in hoc exercitio et »dificio, quia nihil plene intelligitur, fideliterve 
predicatur, nisi prius dente disputationis frangatur. Preedicatio vero, cui sub- 
serviunt priora, quasi tectum est tegens fideles ab zstu et turbine vitiorum. 
Post lectionem igitur sacre Scripture, et dubitabilium per disputationum inqui- 
sitionem, et non prius, predicandum est.” Verbum abbreviatum c. 1, Migne, 
Pair. lat. 205, 25. Substantially the same is said by Alanus ab Insulis (Summa 
de arte predicatoria, prefatio, Migne 210, 111) and Peter d’Ailly (Tractatus Uni- 
versitatis ed. D’Argentré,\Collectio iudiciorum de novis erroribus I, 2, Paris 1728, 77). 

97. That Brother Leo is evidently to be regarded as the author of these reports, 
follows from the unassailed passage: “. . . Nos qui cum ipso Francisco fuimus, 
ad hoc respondemus sicut audivimus ab ore eius, quoniam ipse dixit fratribus 
hec...” Spec. perf. c. 2, ed. Sabatier p. 6. 

98. Angelus Clarenus, Expositio Regule Fratrum Minorum ed. Livarius Oliger 
a ri istoria septem tribulationum ed. Döllinger, Beiträge zur Sektengeschichte, 
2. Teil, 445. 

99. “  . Beatus Franciscus expressit intentionem suam et de libris et de 
studio, sicut dictum est supra; sicut aperte patet in dictis fratris Leonis manu 
sua conscriptis, sicut ab ore sancti patris audivit, et ego ipse audivi a pluribus 
aliis sociis beati Francisci, quos vidi.” Responsio ed. Ehrle 76, line 9-12. 
Likewise ibid. 168, 1. 24-30 and Arbor vite lib. 5, c. 3. 5. 

roo. ‘Nihil insuper sibi proprium vindicabant, sed libris et aliis collatis eisdem 
utebantur communiter.’’ Tres Soc. n. 43; cf. S pec. perf. p. 14. 

tor. “In libris testimonium Dei querere non pretium, edificationem non 
pulchritudinem edocebat. Paucos tamen haberi volebat, eosdemque ad fratrum 
egentium necessitatem paratos.”” Thom. Cel. II, n. 62. 

102. S. Bonav., Epist. de tribus quest. n. 6, Opera VIII, 332 sq. 

103. **. . . sicut dixit sanctus Leo ex ore ipsius [Francisci] volebat, quod in 
communi ad hoc [studium] haberentur libri sufficientes et pauperes, non superflui 
ne curiosi.” Ubertinus, Arbor vite lib. 5, c. 5. 104. Ubertinus, Responsio 73, 
ine 35. 

105. “Et quum ex longa familiaritate, quam idem confessor Nobiscum habuit, 
plenius noverimus intentionem ipsius, et in condendo predictam Regulam [of 
1223], obtinendo confirmationem ipsius per Sedem Apostolicam sibi astiterimus. 

.” Bulla “Quo elongati” Bullar. francisc. I, 68. Cf. p. 102f. 106. Bullar. 
francisc. III, 409. 

107. “Voluit ergo dicere decretalis [Nic. III], quod secundum qualitatem 
locorum plures essent libri vel pautiores in locis, et secundum qualitatem per- 
sonarum et offitiorum eis impositorum plures de libris communibus eis pro tunc 
concederentur ad usum; et finitis offitiis et cessantibus necessitatibus de usu 
predictorum librorum, ad armarium commune redirent, ut possent aliorum 
fratrum usibus applicari.”” Ubertinus, Declaratio 179 sq. 108. Ibid. 109. Ibid. 

110. “.... Cum quidam minister libros ambitiosos multumque valentes eius 
licentia retinendos expeteret, audivit ab ipso: Librum evangelii, quod promisi, 
pro tuis libris perdere nolo. Tu quidem quod volueris facies; mea non fiet 
licentia.” Ibid. 

111. Spec. perf. c. 2, ed. Sabatier p. 7 sq.; Fr. Ubertinus, Arbor vite lib. 5, c 
3 and Responsio 75, also Declaratio 177; Fr. Angelus, Expositio 32 sq. 65, and 
Historia septem tribul. 445 (Döllinger in this case as in many others gives a muti- 
lated text, as I have convinced myself by an examination of the Cod. 7 Plut. 20, 
fol. 12b-ı3a of the Laurenziana at Florence, which he used). 

112. Spec. perf. p. 6: ‘Nos qui cum ipso fuimus ad hoc respondemus, sicut 


500% STHEITDEATSIOTESTERRINTEERS 


audivimus ab ore eius.” Fr. Angelus, Expositio 65: “Et sicut frater Leo scribit 
et alii sotii eiusdem Sancti.” Fr. Ubertinus, Declaratio 178, 1.9-12: ‘‘Hec 
omnia scripta sunt per manum fratris Leonis in libro, qui est Assizii et in rotulis, 
quos habemus, ut superius est expressum. Ex quibus patet, quod intentio 
sancti Francisci omnem appropriationem librorum exsufflat.”’ In the Arbor vite 
lib. 5, c. 3 Ubertinus says that the ‘‘rotuli fratris Leonis” are preserved in the 
convent of St. Clare at Assisi. 

113. Spec. perf. p. 4 sqq.; Ubertinus, Arbor vite, ibid.; Responsio 75; Decla- 
ratio 177. 

114. ‘‘Unde quotquot fratres veniebant ad eum pro habendo consilio eius super 
huiusmodi, hoc modo respondebat eis.” Spec. perf. p. 12; likewise Ubertinus, 
Declaratio 177, appealing to the testimony of Br. Leo. 

115. ‘‘Absit autem quod pater noster beatus Franciscus intenderet, quod qui- 
libet frater sibi salmas librorum conquireret vel sic sibi appropriaret et quod 
quando frater mutatur de loco ad locum semper post se salmam deferret.” 
Ubertinus, Rotulus 111, line 20-23; cf. Declaratio 179, line 2off.; Arbor vite lib. 
5, c. 5. It need hardly be said that such a “‘salma”’ or “‘sarcina”’ of writings 
easily represented the value of an important library according to present ideas. 

116. ‘‘Expresse autem asseruit beatus Franciscus, quod qui vult esse verus 
frater minor, non debet habere nec libros nec aliud quid suo usui appropriatum 
exceptis necessariis vestimentis, unde nunquam voluit concedere, quod aliquis 
frater haberet librum aliquem ad suum proprium usum, quantumcumgque a sibi 
carissimis instantissime fuerit requisitus, sed volebat, quod libri ad divinum 
cultum et sacrarum scripturarum studium essent in communi et in illis addi- 
scerent illi, quibus Deus daret gratiam intellectus.”’ Ubertinus, Rotulus 111 line 
13 ff. “Et licet hec [the office of preaching] supponant scientiam, et scientia 
studium et studium usum librorum; tamen ex his que dicta sunt supra de verbis 
sancti fratris Leonis. . . non fuit intentio beati Francisci, quod fratres haberent 
tot salmas librorum ad usum proprium immo nec unicum librum.” Arbor vite 
lib. 5, c. 5. 

117. Ubertinus, Declaratio 179 sq. This view is shared in the passages cited 
above of Thom. Cel. II, n. 62 and of Tres Soc. n. 43. 

118. Spec. perf. c. 2 p. 12; Ubertinus, Declaratio 178, line 1 ff. 

119. Regula I, c. 3; II, c. 3, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 4. 31, Lemmens 28. 66. Cf. 
my treatise: St. Francois d’Assise et le Bréviaire romain, in: Etudes franciscaines 
V, Paris 1901, 490 ss. 120. Spec. perf. p. 3. 6. 26sqq. 121. Spec. perf. ibid.; 
Ubertinus, Declaratio 177 sqq. 

122. ‘“‘. . . beatus Franciscus tempore suo non fecit ita Regulam et pauperta- 
tem [quoad libros] observaria fratribus . . . necita observandum mandavit . .. 
quia valde timebat scandalum et in se et in fratribus, nolebat contendere cum 
ipsis, sed condescendebat invitus voluntati eorum.” Spec. perf. p. 6. 

123. ‘“‘Unde ipse ad litteram observavit totum sanctum evangelium [cf. Luke 
ix, 3 to which reference is made] a principio, ex quo coepit habere fratres, usque 
ad diem mortis sue.”’ Spec. perf. p. 9: cf. 6 sq. 

124. ‘‘Sufficere, inquit, debet huic pro se habitus et libellus, pro fratribus vero 
pennarium et sigillum. Non sit aggregator librorum.” Thom. Cel. II, 185. 

125. “Libros continue suos, videlicet bibliothecas in forulis a collo depen- 
dentes baiulantes.” Matthei Paris. Historia Anglorum ed. Monum. Germ. 
hist. Script. XXVIII, 397. One is indeed inclined to think here of the breviary 
which the Friars carried with them. 

126. ‘“Nullus frater libros scribat vel scribi faciat ad vendendum, nec 
minister provincialis audeat habere vel retinere aliquos libros absque licentia 
generalis ministri, nec aliqui fratres accipiant vel habeant absque licentia suorum 
provincialium ministorum. Et nulla biblia emenda precium 20 librarum turonen- 
sium excedat. Si contingat aliquem fratrem transferri de una provincia ad 
aliam ad morandum, libros ei concessos ad usum possit habere; post mortem 
vero suam libri scripti vel empti de elemosina ad illam provinciam revertantur, 
ad quam dicta elemosina pertinebat; et ad hoc fideliter faciendum ministri 
firmiter, in quorum provinciis decesserit, teneantur. . . Nullus libros aliquos 


NOTES 501 


retineat sibi assignatos, nisi sint totaliter in ordinis potestate, quod libere per 
ministros dari valeant et aufferri.” The oldest editions of the General Con- 
stitutions of the Franciscan Order ed. Ehrle, Archiv. für Lit.-und Kirchengesch. 
VI, 111. 127. See “Humility.” 128. See p. 169 f. 204 f. 129. See p. 356. 
130. See p. 497, note 72. 

131. “Fuit ergo sua intencio, quod...fratres, quibus daret Deus aptitudinem 
intellectus, in illis [libris] legendo et alios instruendo proficerent, ita tamen quod 
magis esset principalis intencio et occupatio oracionis quam studii, et studium 
oracionem dirigeret, et oracio studium illustraret.” Ubertinus, Responsio 75; 
Declaratio 178. In both places Ubertinus traces his statements to Fr. Leo. 

132. Thom. Cel. II, n. 195. 133. Ibid. 

134. “Et dicebat: Multi sunt, qui totum studium et sollicitudinem suam die 
noctuque ponunt in scientia, dimittentes vocationem suam, sanctam et devotam 
orationem suam.”’ Fr. Leo, S. Francisci intentio Regule ed. Lemmens, Docu- 
menta antiqua franciscana, pars 1, Ad Claras Aquas 1901, 90. 

135. Thom. Cel. II, n. 189 is alone when he says: ‘‘Hec est [simplicitas], 
quae grecas glorias non optimas arbitrans, plus eligit facere quam discere vel 
docere.” This possibly might be a reference to Greek philosophy; still it is a 
personal. reflection of Thom. Cel., not a statement of Francis. 

136. For the following account see my Geschichte der wissenschaftl. Studien im 
Franziskanerorden, especially p. 447-490, where the gradual introduction of 
philosophy into the schools of the thirteenth century, especially into those of 
the Mendicants, is explained at length. 

137. The earlier translations by Boethius (died ca. 524) were lost in the dis- 
integration of the ancient culture, with the exception of the two first books of 
the Organon, i. e. of the Aristotelian logics. See loc. cit. 200. 

138. Chartul. Univers. Paris. ed. Denifle-Chatelain I, n. 11, p. 70; n. 59, p. 
114-116; n. 79, p. 138; n. 87, p. 143. 

139. Die Konstitutionen des Predigerordens vom Jahre 1228 ed. Denifle, 
Archiv. I, 222. 140. See Felder loc. cit. 457-459. 141. See loc. cit. 198 ff. 459 ff. 
142. 1 Kings xiii, 19. 143. See Felder loc. cit. 461. 144. Expositio 210. 

145. Historia septem tribul. ed. Ehrle, Archiv. II, 356-358 (Döllinger 466 f. 
this passage is again badly mutilated, although he could have copied it from 
Ehrle). Insofar as Angelus gives the impression that the study of philosophy 
was finally and universally introduced already under Crescentius, he is in error. 
Its introduction began at that time and was completed in the course of the next 
30-40 years. This development found its conclusion in the General Constitu- 
tions of 1292, which ordained: ‘‘Iura vero et physica in scolis theologie ab 
eodem lectore et eodem tempore non legantur, sed alibi et ab aliis, ubi fuerit 
opportunum; seculares autem ad huiusmodi lectiones nullatenus admittantur. 
Nec ratione huiusmodi studii ab humilitatis obsequiis et divinis officiis eximantur, 
parcatur tamen iuvenibus a discursu.”’ Ehrle, Die ältesten Redaktionen der Gen- 
eralkonstitutionen des Franziskanerordens, in: Archiv VI, 108. Cf. Felder loc. cit. 
462-466. 146. Felder loc. cit. 463. 

147. “Cum ex duobus parietibus construatur edificium Ordinis, scilicet mori- 
bus bonis et scientia, parietem scientiz fecerunt ultra celum et czlestia sublimem, 
in tantum ut quererent, an Deus sit; parietem vero morum permiserunt ita 
bassum esse, ut pro laude magna dicatur de fratre: ‘securus homo est’; unde 
non convenienter videbantur edificare.”” Thom. de Eccleston, De adventu Min. 
in Angham coll. XIII, p. 92. 

148. Ehrle, Petrus Johannes Olivi, sein Leben und seine Schriften, in: Archiv 
III, 480 f. 503 f. 

149. Angelus, Expositio 214; Ubertinus, Rotulus 111. 

150. Determinationes quest. pars 1, q. 3, Opera VIII, 339. 

151. Apologia pauperum c. 12, n. 13, Opera VIII, 320. 

152. Collatio XVII in Hexaemeron, n. 25, Opera V, 413. 

153. Collatio XIX in Hexaemeron, n. 14, Opera V, 422. 

154. Epist. de tribus quest. n. 12 sq., Opera VIII, 335 sq. 

155. Collatio XXII in Hexaemeron n. 21; Opera V, 440. That theology was 


UV 


502 ° “EGE LD EAE SO ies TIER INNE 


the only thing worth striving for in science, and that all other departments =f 
learning were but ways and means to this ultimate goal of all earthly knowledzxe, 
was in general the principle of the entire Scholastic system of the Middle Ages. 
For the proof see Felder 380 ff. 

' 156. De reductione artium ad theol. n. 7. 26, Opera V, 322. 326. 

157. Epist. de tribus quest. ibid. 

158. Breviloquium, Prol. n. 3, Opera V, 205. 

159. “Ali principaliter intendunt speculationi et postea unctioni; alii prin- 
cipaliter unctioni et postea speculationi. Et utinam iste amor vel unctio non 
recedat!”’ Collatio XXII in Hexaemeron n. 21, Opera V. 440. 

160. “‘Hic sicut in luminibus scientiarum et maxime in Scripturis sacris vide- 
batur miranda capacitate proficere, ita in devotionis gratia continuum sumebat 
augmentum. Siquidem omnem veritatem, quam percipiebat intellectu, ad for- 
mam orationis et laudationis divinz*reducens, continuo ruminabat affectu.” 
Catalogus Gener, Ministr. ed. P. Hilarinus a Lucerna 112. 


CHAPTER XVIII 


1. Dogmengeschichte Ill, 3. Aufl., Freiburg i. Br. 1897, 380. 

2. Studein zur Individualität des Franziskus von Assisi, Leipzig-Berlin 1914, 
213. 

3. “Otium sanctum, quo sapientiam cordis inscriberet, faciebat de tempore 
en Thom. Cel. II, n. 94. 

. “Nam eius tutissimus portus erat oratio, non unius existens momenti, 
ee aut presumptuosa, sed longa tempore, plena devotione, humilitate 
placida; . . . ambulans, sedens, comedens et bibens orationi erat intentus.” 
Ibid. I, n. 71. “Nam ambulans et sedens, intus et foris, laborans et vacans, 
orationi adeo erat intentus, ut illi videretur non solum quidquid erat in eo cordis 
et corporis, verum etiam operis et temporis dedicasse.” S. Bonav. c. 10, n. I. 

5.) Cantiiji4. 4.0.41 hom? Gek Eoin. 92. 

7. “Si quando visitationes s&cularium seu quevis alia negotia ingruebant, 
precisis potius quam finitis ad intima recurrebat. Insipidus quidem erat mundus 
celesti dulcedine pasto, et ad grossa hominum divine delitiz facerant delicatum.”’ 
Ibid. II, n. 94. 8. Ps. cvüi, 11. 9. Thom. Cel. I, n. 96. 10. bid. II, n. 100. 
crt bid. n. 99. 

12. “Cum in publico subito afficeretur, visitatus a Domino, ne sine cella 
foret, de mantello cellulam faciebat. Nonnunquam mantello carens, ne manna 
absconditum proderet, manica vultum tegebat. Semper aliquid obiiciebat 
adstantibus, ne ‚sponsi tactum cognoscerent, ita ut in arto navis plurimis insertus 
oraret invisus.” Jbid.II,n. 94 sq. 13. Ibid.n. 98; S. Bonav. c. 10, n. 2. 

14. “‘Sancta oratione omnia preveniebat negotia.” I bid. I, n. 35. 

15. “Eos vero dicebat male dividere, qui predicationi totum, devotioni nihil 
impendunt. Laudabat ‚revera predicatorem, sed eum, qui pro tempore sibi 
saperet sibique gustaret.” Ibid. II, n. 164. 

16. “Dicebat autem: Prius predicator haurire secretis orationibus debet, 
quod postea sacris effundat sermonibus; prius intus calescere, quam foris frigida 
verba proferre.” Ibid.n. 163. 

“Hii autem circa temporalia nullatenus occupantur, sed fervente desi- 
derio et vehemente studio singulis diebus laborant, ut animas, que pereunt, a 
seculi vanitatibus retrahant . . . De die intrant civitates et villas, ut aliquos 
lucri faciant operam dantes actioni, nocte vero revertuntur ad eremum vel loca 
solitaria vacantes contemplationi.” ZEpist. data Ianu@ a. 1216. Böhmer, 
Analekten 08. 

18. “Videbat eum tota nocte orantem, rarissime dormientem, laudantem 
Dominum et gloriosam Virginem matrem eius.” Thom. aes I, n. 24. 

1g. ‘‘Si sero incipiebat, vix mane finiebat.” Jbid. n. 

20. S. Bonav. c.13,n.1. Cf. Thom, Cel, I, n. 71: “Rligebat proinde frequen- 


NOTES 503 


ter solitaria loca, ut ex toto animum in Deum posset dirigere, nec tamen pigri- 
tabatur, cum tempus esset opportunum, se negotiis ingerere ac saluti libens 
intendere proximorum.” 

#1... Inom. Gels I, n.7T. Or, 50,104: IL, 1. 3568s. 05: 

22. ‘‘Mos erat sancto Francisco integrum diem solitaria in cella transigere, 
nec ad fratres reverti, nisi sumendi cibi necessitas perurgeret. Non tamen sig- 
natis horis coenaturus exibat, quoniam edacior contemplationis fames totum 
sibi frequentius vindicabat.” Ibid. II, n. 45. 

23. “‘Suspendebatur multoties tanta contemplationis dulcedine, ut supra 
semetipsum raptus, quod ultra humanum sensum experiebatur, nemini reve- 
laret.” Ibid.n. 98. 24. Ibid. n. 99. 25. Ibid. 26. Ibid. n. 95; S. Bonav. c. 
10, n. 4. 

27. De religiosa habitatione in eremo, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 67, Lemmens 83 sq. 

28. Thom. Cel. II, n. 178. 29. Bull “Quia populorum tumultus,” Budllar. 
francisc. I, 20,n. 17. 30. Ubertinus, Arbor vite lib. 5, n. 3. 

31. “Orationis gratiam viro religioso desiderandam super omnia firmiter 
asserebat, nullumque credens sine ipsa in Dei prosperari servitio, modis quibus 
poterat, fratres suos ad eius studium excitabat.” S. Bonav. c. 10, n. 1. 

32. Thom. Cel. I,n. 45. 33. Ibid. II, n. 160. 

34. Thom. Cel. I, n. 20. 40; Tres Soc.n. 41; Fr. Zgid. Assis. Vita 76. 78. 79. 
85. 86. 109. 110. 113; Dicta 10. 41-52. 70-74; S. Clare Assis. Vita c. 3, n. 19 Sq., 
P. 759; Cc. 5, n. 36, p. 762; S. Antonii Pat. Legenda prima c. 7, n. 6-10, p. 36 Sq.; 
c. 15, n. 1-7, p. 50-52; Thom. de Ecclest. coll. IV, p. 28; coll. V. p. 30 sq.; coll. 
es Dp. 97 etc. 

A semper adorare et videre Dominum Deum vivum et verum mundo 
Bene et animo.” Admonitiones n. 16, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 46, Lemmens 14. 

36. Opusc. ed. Böhmer 17, Lemmens 47 Sq. 

37. Böhmer 19, Lemmens 50. 38. Böhmer 21, Lemmens 54 sq. 

39. Cf. I Mos. 1, 26, and 2, 15. 40. Matth. xxv, 34. 41. Matth. xvii, 5. 
42. Regula I, c. 23, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 23-26, Lemmens 57-62. 

43. Paul Sabatier (Vie de S. Frangois d’Assise, 21. éd., Paris 1899, 295 s.), 
writes the following beautiful and apposite words: “Ces naives répétions n’ont- 
elles pas un charme mystérieux qui s’insinue délicieusement jusqu’au fond du 
cur? N’y a-t-il pas lä une sorte de sacrement dont les paroles ne sont que le 
véhicule grossier? F rangois se refugie en Dieu, comme l’enfant va se jeter dans 
le sein de sa mére et dans l’incohérence de sa faiblesse et de sa joie, lui balbutie 
tous les mots qu’il sait, et par lesquels il ne veut que répéter l’Eternel, je suis a 
toi, de l’amour et de la fous? 

44. Cf. Felder, Jesus Christus I, 3. Aufl., Paderborn 1923, 331, 352 f. 

45. Harnack, Dogmengeschichte III, 380. 

46. “Tota in Christum unum anima sitiebat, totum illi non solum cordis sed 
corporis dedicabat.” Thom. Cel. II, n. 94. 

47. Oficium Passionis Domini, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 107-122, Lemmens 126- 
148. 

48. “*. . . ad reverentiam et memoriam et laudem passionis Domini... 
Böhmer 107, Lemmens 126. 49. Böhmer 121 sq., Lemmens 147 sq. 

50. Vita S. Clare c. 4, n. 30 sq., Act. SS., Augusti t. II, p. 761. 

51. Act. SS., Martii t. I, p. 505-507. 52. Vita S. Clare c. 6, n. 51, p. 764. 

53. Franz Pfeiffer (Deutsche Mystiker I, 2. Aufl., Göttingen 1907. 309-386) 
has published a number of these old German texts. 54. Loc. cit. 375. 

55. For a selection of apposite passages from Bonaventure see P. Ephrem 
Longpré, O. F. M., La théologie mystique de S. Bonaventure, in: Archiv. franc. 
XIV (1921) 68-71. 

56. See the thorough investigation made by P. Symphorien, O. M. Cap., 
L’influence spirituelle de saint Bonaventure et Vimitation de Jésus-Christ, in: 
Etudes franciscaines XXXIII (1921) 36-96. 235-255. 344-359. 433-467; XXXIV 
(1922) 23-65. 158-194. 

57. This has been already established by Mgr. Puyol, L’auteur de imitation 
121-126. 


” 


504% THESE DIAS SS 7G Hs IT RE RIASNICTS 


58. “Summum nostrum studium sit: in vita Iesu Christi meditari . . . Cum 
Christum habueris, dives es et sufficit tibi.” Jmitatio lib. I, c. 1; lib. II, c. 1. 

59. “Non pluribus indigeo, fili.. Scio Christum pauperem crucifixum.” Thom. 
Cel. II, n. ros. 

60. Cf. P. Athanasius Bierbaum, O. F. M., Der heilige Franziskus von Assisi 
und die Gottesmutter, Paderborn 1904. 

61. “. . . devotione fervebat erga totius bonitatis Matrem.” Thom. Cel 
I, n. 21. “Devotionem ferventem habebat ad Dominam mundi.” S. Bonav. 
c2,.n.8, 

62. ‘“Matrem Iesu indicibili complectebatur amore, eo quod Dominum maies- 
tatis fratrem nobis effecerit.” Thom. Cel. II, n. 198. 

63. “‘Beata Virgo Maria sic honoratur, ut dignum est, quia ipsum portavit 
in sanctissimo utero.” Epistl. ad Capitulum Generale, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 59, 
Lemmens ıo2. 64. Thom. Cel. II, n. 200. 

65. Regula I, c. 9, Opusc. ed Böhmer 10, Lemmens 37. 66. Thom. Cel. II, 
1883.10 67. Ibid.n. 200. 68. Thom. Cel. ibid.; Tres Soc. n. ı5. 69. Opusc. ed. 
Böhmer 35, Lemmens 76. 70. S. Bonav.c.3,n.1. 71. Ibid.c.4,n.5. 

72. Hettinger, Aus W lt und Kirche I, 1902, p. 229. 

73. Thom. Cel. I, n. 21. 106; II, n. 18 sq. 160. 74. Ibid. n. 108. 

75. “Sed quod letificat plurimum, Ordinis advocatam ipsam constituit, 
suisque alis quos relicturus erat filios usque in finem fovendos et protegendos 
submisit.” Jbid. II, n. 198. The biographer adds the supplication: ‘‘ Exercise, 
then, O Advocate of the poor, thy office in our behalf until the time ordained by 
the Father!” 

76. Opusc. ed. Böhmer 66. 107, Lemmens 119. 126. The statute, however, 
prescribing a solemn Mass in honor of the Immaculate Virgin on Saturdays, and 
which has been ascribed to St. Francis (Wadding, Annales ad annum 12109, n. 30), 
in reality owes its origin to St. Bonaventure. The latter decreed at the General 
Chapter of 1269: “Ordinamus ob reverentiam gloriose Virginis, ut in quolibet 
Sabbato ad ipsius honorem dicatur sollemniter missa, quando fieri poterit bono 
modo. Ad cuius etiam honorem fratres predicent populo, quod quando auditur 
campana completorii ipsa beata Virgo aliquotiens salutetur.” Little, ‘‘Decrees 
of the General Chapters of the Friars Minor 1260 to 1282,” in: The English His- 
torical Review Vol. XIII (1898) 705. 

77. ‘“Peculiares illi persolvebat laudes, fundebat preces, offerebat affectus, 
quot et qualiter humana promere lingua non posset.” Thom. Cel. II, n. 108. 

78. S. Bonav. c. 9, n. 3. 79. Opusc. ed. Böhmer 61. 72, Lemmens 105. 121. 
do; “Videbat [Bernardus] eum tota nocte orantem rarissime dormientem, 
laudantem Deum et gloriosam Virginem matrem eius.” Thom. Cel. I, n. 24. 

81. Opusc. ed. Böhmer 108, Lemmens 128. 82. Opusc. ed. Böhmer 70, Lem- 
mens 123. 

83. “Angelos, qui nobiscum in acie sunt, quive nobiscum ambulant in medio 
umbre mortis, maximo venerabatur affectu. Tales ubique socios reverendos 
esse dicebat, tales nihilominus invocandos custodes.” Thom. Cel. II, n. 197. 

84. “Inoffensos eorum aspectus servare docebat, nec pr&sumere coram eis, 
quod non coram hominibus fieret. Pro eo, quod in conspectu angelorum psalle- 
batur in choro, omnes qui possent in oratorium convenire volebat, et ibidem 
psallere sapienter.” Ibid. 

85. J. B. Weiss, Weltgeschichte IV, 3. Aufl., Graz 1891, 623. 

= Emil Michael, Geschichte des deutschen "Volkes I, 3. Aufl., Freiburg 1807, 
214 f. 

87. ‘“Beatum vero Michaélem, eo quod animarum representandarum haberet 
officium, spe belie excellentius honorandum.” Thom. Cel. ibid.; cf. S. 
Bonav. c. 9, n. 

88. Thom. Cel ibid.; S. Bonav. ibid. Before the feast of the Assumption he 
likewise fasted forty days i in honor of the Mother of God: S. Bonav. ibid. 

89. “Dicebat enim: Quilibet pro tanti honore principis aliquid laudis vel 
muneris specialis Deo deberet offerre.”” Thom. Cel. ibid. 

90. S. Bonav. ibid. or. Thom. Cel. II, n. 202. 


NOS 505 


92. Admonitiones c. 6, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 44, Lemmens 9 sq. 093. Spec. 
perf.c. 4. 94. Regula I, c. 3, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 3 sq., Lemmens 28. 

gs. ‘“‘Officium dicebamus clerici secundum alios clericos.” Opusc. ed. Böhmer 
37, Lemmens 79. 

06. Regula II, c. 3, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 31, Lemmens 66. The Papal chapel 
made use of the so-called Psalterium romanum, which St. Jerome had corrected 
according to the Septuagint. This translation had never become popular, 
while the one made from the Hexapla of Origen (the so-called Psalterium galli- 
canum) was universally adopted. The popular tendency of St. Francis and the 
familiarity of his Friars with the ordinary Psalterium was the decisive factor in 
selecting the latter. And since he had brought the Breviary adopted by him 
and which had formerly been in use in the Capella papalis only, so prominently 
to the front that it was soon introduced throughout the world as the Breviary 
of the Friars Minor, the natural result was that the version of the Psalms in use 
in the Papel chapel or the Roman Church was discontinued, and the popular 
translation, thanks to the Seraph of Assisi, has been preserved to this day in the 
Breviary. The reasons which led St. Francis to adopt the Roman Breviary, 
and the influence which he and his Order exercised on the formation and the 
spread of this Breviary, have been treated extensively in my article in the Etudes 
franciscaines V (1901) 490-504: St. Frangois d’Assise et le Bréviaire romain. 

97. “Et quamvis sim simplex et infirmus, tamen semper volo habere clericum, 
qui mihi faciat officium, sicut in regula continetur. Et omnes alii fratres tenean- 


tur... . facere officium secundum regulam. Et qui inventi essent, qui non 
facerent officium secundum regulam et vellent alio modo variare . . ., omnes 
fratres, ubicumque sunt, per obedientiam teneantur .. . ipsum fortiter custo- 


„ 


dire sicuti hominem in vinculis die noctuque, 
Böhmer 38 sq., Lemmens 81. 98. See p. 399. 

09. The proof herefor has been adduced in my: Geschichte der wissenschaftl. 
Studien 426-439. Cf. Fr. Antoine de Sérent, O. F. M., L’äme franciscaine, in: 
Archiv. francisc. VIII (1915) 452-458. 100. Epist. ad Capitul. General., Opusc. 
ed. Böhmer 61, Lemmens 106. 

ror. S. Bonav. c. 10,n.6. : 102. Thom. Cel. IT, n. 06. sq. 

103. ‘‘Deprecati sunt eum fratres tempore illo, ut doceret eos orare, quoniam 
in simplicitate spiritus ambulantes adhuc ecclesiasticum officium ignorabant. 
Quibus ipse ait: ‘Cum orabitis, dicite: Pater noster, et Adoramus te, Christe, 
et ad omnes ecclesias tuas, que sunt in universo mundo, et benedicimus tibi, 
quia per sanctam crucem tuam redemisti mundum.’” Ibid. I, n. 45. 

104. ‘‘Dum enim, igne Spiritus Sancti succensi, non solum constitutis horis, 
verum etiam qualibet hora, cum parum eos terrena sollicitudo vel molesta cura- 
rum anxietas occuparet, Pater noster in melodia spiritus voce supplici decan- 
tarent.. „1... Jbidi n. 47. 

105. Regula I, c. 3, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 4, Lemmens 28. 

106. Regula II, c. 3, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 31, Lemmens 66. 

107. Schnürer, Die ursprüngliche Templerregel, Freiburg 1903, 135. 

108. P. Eberhard Hoffmann, Das Konverseninstitut des Zisterzienserordens, 
Freiburg 1905, 62. 

109. See note 103, 110. See Regula I, c. 22, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 21, Lem- 
mens 55. 111. Mark xi, 25; Matth. vi, 9; Luke xi, 2. 

112. Laudes, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 71-73, Lemmens 119-121. Böhmer inserts 
the Expositio super orationem dominicam among the ‘‘Dubia,” but his reasons 
are not well-founded (Analekten XXX). Lemmens regards the little opus as 
undoubtedly genuine, and for very good reasons (Opuscula 196 sq.). 

113. Böhmer 71-73, Lemmens 119-121. 

114. Die sieben Vorregeln der Tugend, in: Pfeiffer, Deutsche Mystiker 324 f. 
115. See p. 388. 

116. ‘‘Contemplatio et sapientia eternorum.”” Thom. Cel. II, n. 82. Under 
“contemplation’’ was meant mysticism in actu, under ‘‘wisdom”’ mysticism in 
habitu. See Zahn, Einführung in die christliche Mystik, Paderborn 1918, 38. 

117. “‘Sanctus Franciscus Spiritu Dei plenus desiderio flagravit . . ., ut totus 


etc. Testament., Opusc. ed. 


506. ST HE PD PAS OP essa eh ES 


posset adhzrere Deo assidue contemplationis eius gustum.” S. Bonav. Deter- 
minat. quest. pars 1, q. I, Opera VIII, 338. 

118. See pp. 389-392. 119. See pp. 392-394. 

120. ‘Desideravit dissolvi et esse cum Christo.” Thom. Cel. I, n. 71. 

. 121. See pp. 395-399. 122. See pp. 400-403. 123. See pp. 403-405. 124. 
See pp. 384-386. 125. Thom. Cel. I, n. 45; II, n. 105. 

126. Thom. Cel. II, n. 200; Tres Soc.n.15. 127. See pp. 381 ff. 128. See pp. 
382f.-384f. 2 

129. ‘‘Hominum conversationem fugere proponebat et ad loca remotissima se 
conferre, ut sic exutus omni cura, et aliorum sollicitudine deposita, solus carnis 
paries inter se et Deum interim separaret.” Thom. Cel. I, n. 103. ‘‘Corpore 
peregrinus a Domino vir Dei Franciscus pr&sentem spiritum celo contendebat 
ee et angelorum civem iam factum solus carnis paries disiungebat.” Ibid. 

, nN. 094. 

130. “*. . . ut ipse liberius suam intentionem dirigere posset ad Deum, et 
beatarum mansionum in czlo positarum, frequenter mente excedens, circuire 
posset ac ingredi officinas, et in pinguedine grati@ coram placidissimo et serenis- 
simo universorum Domino se in celestibus presentare ...” Ibid. I, n. 102. 

131. Especially pp. 28-37. 

132. ‘‘Alii pietate commoti movebantur ad lacrimas, videntes eum ... ad 
tantam ebrietatem divini amoris tam cito venisse.”” Tres Soc. n. 21. 

133. ‘‘Amore divino fervens semper ad fortia mittere manum, et dilatato 
corde viam mandatorum Dei ambulans, perfectionis summam attingere cupie- 
bat.” Thom. Cel. I, n. 55. 134. Ibid. I, n. 82. 

135. “Caritatem ferventem, qua Sponsi amicus Franciscus ardebat, quis 
enarrare sufficiat! Totus namque quasi quidam carbo ignitus divini amoris 
flamma videbatur absorptus.” S. Bonav. c. 9, n. 1. 

136. ‘‘L’un fu tutto serafico in ardore.” Dante, Divina Com., Paradiso XI, 37. 

137. Thom. Cel. I, n.16. 138. Tres Soc. n. 21; Thom. Cel. II, n. 13. 139. 
Tres Soc. n. 33. 140. Thom. Cel. II, n. 127. 141. Tres Soc. n. 15. 

142. “Talis deberet esse Fratrum conversatio inter gentes, ut quicumque 
Sone oe videret eos, glorificaret Patrem celestem et devote laudaret.” Tres 

oc. n. 58. 

143. ‘‘Per ipsum [fratrem Martinum de Bartona] scripsit beatus Franciscus 
propria manu litteram, sub divo in pluvia non madefactus, ministro et fratribus 
Francie, ut visis litteris iubilarent laudes Deo Trinitati dicentes: Benedicamus 
Patrem et Filium cum Sancto Spiritu.” Eccleston coll. VI, p. 4o. 

144. Epist. ad omnes custodes, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 64, Lemmens 114. 

145. Epist. ad omnes fideles, Opusc. ed. Böhmer 51. 54, Lemmens go. 94 sq. 

146. Cf. p. 388 ff. 147. Opusc. ed. Böhmer 66 sq., 107, Lemmens 119. 126. 

148. Böhmer 67, Lemmens 121-123. 149. Böhmer 67, Lemmens 123. 150. 
Böhmer 109, Lemmens 128. 151. Schnürer, Franz von Assisi 113. 

152. The Laudes Dei are written on a sheet which the Saint gave to Brother 
Leo. The latter added to it the annotation: ‘‘Blessed Francis two years before 
his death kept a Lent in the place of Mount La Verna in honor of the Blessed 
Virgin Mary, the Mother of the Lord, and of blessed Michael the Archangel, 
from the feast of the Assumption of the holy Virgin Mary until the September 
feast of St. Michael. And the hand of the Lord was laid upon him; after the 
vision and speech of the Seraph and the impression of the Stigmata of Christ 
on his body, he made and wrote with his own hand the “‘Praises’”’ written on 
the other side of the sheet, giving thanks to the Lord for the benefits conferred 
on him.” The precious sheet, which contains also the blessing of St. Francis to 
Brother Leo, is preserved to this day in a reliquary in the Sacro Convento at 
Assisi; the text, however, has suffered, because Brother Leo, according to the 
wish of the Saint, carried the sheet on his person during his life (he died in 1271). 
We give the “‘ Praises” according to the reconstruction of Faloci-Pulignano, Gli 
autografi di S. Francesco, Miscellanea francesc. Vol. VI, 35 sgg. Cf. Lemmens, 
Opusc. eae: Thom. Cel. II, n. 49. and P. Robinson, The Writings of St. Fran- 
cis, p. 146 ff. 


NOTES 507 


153. “Paucos dies, qui usque ad transitum eius restabant, expendit in laudem, 
socios suos valde dilectos secum Christum laudare instituens. Invitabat etiam 
omnes creaturas ad laudem Dei, et per verba quedam, que olim composuerat, 
ipse eas ad divinum hortabatur amorem.” Thom. Cel. II, n. 217. 

154. “... . novam laudem de creaturis Domini.” Spec. perf. c. 100, p. 197. 
See the conclusion of the following chapter. 


CHAPTER XIX 


1. Cf. Zöpf, Das Heiligen-Leben im 10. Jahrhundert, Leipzig u. Berlin 1908, 
219-229. 

2. Cf. Biese, Die Entwickling des Naturgefühls im Mittelalter, Leipzig 1888. 

3. “We may not hesitate a moment to declare his [Francis’] canticles and 
lyrics important documents of a newly-awakened love of nature.” H. Tilemann 
Studien zur Individualität des Franziskus von Assisi, Leipzig 1914, 210. 

4. Böhmer, Analekten XLIX-LII, proves conclusively that Francis was by 
nature and by disposition a thoroughly poetical personality. 

5. ‘‘Absorptus totus in amore Dei beatus Franciscus non solum in anima sua 
iam omni virtutum perfectione ornata, sed in qualibet creatura bonitatem Dei 
perfecte cernebat, propter quod singulari et viscerosa dilectione afficiebatur ad 
creaturas.” Spec. perf. c. 113, p. 223. Tilemann also loc. cit. 186 f. emphasizes 
this as the characteristic trait of his love of nature. 

6. ‘Quis enarrare sufficeret dulcedinem, contemplans in creaturis sapientiam 
Creatoris, potentiam et bonitatem eius.”” Thom. Cel. I, n. 80. 

7. ‘‘Revera, miro atque ineffabili gaudio ex hac consideratione szepissime 
replebatur, cum respiciebat solem, cum lunam cernebat, cum stellas et firma- 
mentum intuebatur.” Ibid. 

8. “Omnes denique creaturas fraterno nomine nuncupabat et modo precel- 
lenti atque ceteris inexperto creaturam occulta cordis acie decernebat, utpote 
qui iam evaserat in libertatem filiorum Dei.” Jbid. n. 81. ‘‘Consideratione 
quoque primz originis omnium abundantiore pietate repletus, creaturas quan- 
tumlibet parvas fratris vel sororis appelabat nominibus pro eo, quod sciebat eas 
unum secum habere principium.” S. Bonav. c. 8, n. 6. 

9. “‘Affluebat spiritu charitatis, pietatis viscera gestans, non solum erga 
homines necessitatem patientes, verum etiam erga muta brutaque animalia, 
reptilia, volatilia et ceeteras sensibiles et insensibiles creaturas.” Thom. Cel. 
1n.97, 

to. ‘Molestissimum erat ei, cum alicui pauperum cerneret exprobrari, vel in 
aliquam creaturarum maledictionis verbum audiret ab aliquo intorqueri.” Ibid. 
MH. 70.0 11. /bsa.ıE,n.50. ‘12. Ibid, II,n. 170. 13. Ibid. 1, n. 00. 14. Ibid; I, 
n. 60sq. 15. Ibid. II, n. 167. 

16. The author of the Legenda de passione sancti Verecundi militis et martiris 
gives the following incident as related by two eye-witnesses: ‘‘ Beatus Franciscus 
ex maxima carnis maceratione, nocturnis vigiliis, orationibus et ieiuniis con- 
sumptus ac debilitatus, cum ambulare non posset, et precipue, postquam fuit 
insignitus vulneribus Salvatoris, pedester incedere non valens, portabatur asello; 
et cum quodam sero iam nocte transiret cum fratre socio per viam S. Verecundi 
{abbey near Gubbio] asello equitans et sacco rudi amictus humeros et circa 
scapulas, laboratores agrorum vocabant eum dicentes: ‘Frater Francisce, mane 
hic nobiscum et noli ultra pergere, quia lupi ferales hic discurrunt, qui asellum 
tuum comedent et ledent vos.’ Tunc beatus Franciscus dixit: ‘Nihil nocui 
fratri lupo, ut fratrem nostrum asellum audeat devorare. Valete, filii, et Deum 
timete.’ Et sic frater Franciscus pertransivit illesus. Hac nobis retulit agri- 
cola, qui presens fuit.” Faloci-Pulignani, S. Francesco e il Monastero di S. 
Verecondo presso Gubbio, in: Miscellanea francesc. t. X, p. 7; Lemmens, Testi- 
monia minora seculi XIII de S. Francisco, in: Archiv. francisc. I, 69 sq. 17. 
Thom. Cel. II, n. 35 sq. 


E08 THE IDE AT SIO RISIE RRANCTLS 


18. “De lupo ferocissimo per sanctum Franciscum reducto ad magnam man- 
suetudinem.” Actus b. Francisci c. 23; Fiorelti c. 21. 

19. Bernard. de Bessa, Liber de laudibus b. Francisci c. 6, p. 42. 

20. Thom. Cel. I, n. 61. 21. Thom. Cel., Tract de miraculis n. 15. 

‘22. “Credo ad innocentiam primam redierat, cui, cum volebat, mansuebantur 
immitia.” Thom. Cel. II, n. 166. 

23. “Et mirum certe, cum ipse irrationales creature ipsius erga se affectum 
pietatis cognoscerent et. amorem dulcissimum presentirent.” Ibid. I, n. 59. 

24. ‘‘Nituntur proinde creature omnes vicem amoris rependere Sancto et 
gratitudine sua pro meritis respondere; blandienti arrident, roganti annuunt, 
obediunt imperanti.”’ Jdid. II, n. 166. 

25. ‘‘Creatoris precipuum amatorem non mirum si venerantur relique crea- 
ture.” Ibid. II, n. 168. 

26. “Sic enim gloriosus pater Franciscus, in via obedientia ambulans et 
divine subiectionis perfecte iugum amplectens, in creaturarum obedientia 
magnam coram Deo adeptus est dignitatem.” Ibid. I, n. 61. 

27. “‘Quia enim ad tantam pervenerat puritatem, ut caro spiritui et spiritus 
Deo harmonia mirabili concordarent, divina ordinatione fiebat, ut creatura 
Factori suo deserviens voluntati et imperio eius mirabiliter subiaceret.” S. 
Bonav. c. 5, 0. 9. | : , i: : 

28. Iulian. a Spira, Officia rhythmica 108. 29. Ps. viii, 1. 30. Rom. i, 20. 

31. “Mundum quasi peregrinationis exsilium exire festinans, iuvabatur felix 
iste viator hiis que in mundo sunt non modicum quidem. Nempe ad principes 
tenebrarum utebatur eo ut campo certaminis, ad Deum vero ut clarissimo 
speculo bonitatis. In artificio quolibet commendat artificem.” Thom. Cel. 
11,n.,108: 

32. * Exsultat in cunctis operibus manuum Domini, et per iucunditatis specta- 
cula vivificam intuetur rationem et causam. Cognoscit in pulchris pulcherri- 
mum; cuncta sibi bona, qui nos fecit est optimus, clamant. Per impressa rebus 
vestigia insequitur ubique dilectum, facit sibi de omnibus scalam, qua per- 
veniatur ad solium.” Ibid. 

33. “Sic et omnia illa, precipue in quibus filii Dei posset, aliqua similitudo 
allegorica reperiri, amplexabatur carius et videbat libentius.” Jbzd. I, n. 77. 

34. See pp. I9-37. 35. John viii, 12. 36. Luke xii, 49. 

37. ‘Inter omnes creaturas inferiores et insensibiles singulariter afficiebatur 
ad ignem propter pulchritudinem et utilitatem eius, propter quod nunquam 
voluit illius officium impedire.” Spec. perf. c. 11. 

38. “Parcit lucernis, lampadibus et candelis, nolens sua manu deturbare ful- 
pore qui nutus esset lucis eterne.”’ Thom. Cel. II, n. 165. 39. Spec. perf. 
thid. 

40. ‘Post ignem singulariter diligebat aquam, per quam figuratur sancta 
poenitentia et tribulatio, quibus sordes anime abluuntur, et quia prima ablutio 
anime it per aquam baptismi.” Spec. perf.c.118. 41. Ibid. 42. 1 Cor. x, 4. 

Soa S. a keaae 

. 44. ‘Super petras ambulat reverenter, eius intuitu qui dicitur petra. Cum 
opus esset versiculo: In petra exaltasti me; ut reverentius aliquid diceret, 
suptus pedes, inquit, exaltastime.” Thom. Cel. ibid. 45. Job. xiv, 7. 

46. “Ligna cedentes fratres prohibet totam succidere arborem, ut spem 
habeat iterum pullandi.” Thom. Cel. zbid. ‘‘. . . ut talis arboris semper aliqua 
pars remaneret integra amore illius, qui salutem nostram in ligno crucis voluit 
operari.” Spec. perf.c.118. 47. Cant.ii, 1. 48. Is. xi, 1. 

49. ‘‘Quantam putas eius menti exhilarationem florum speciositas importabat, 
cum eorum venustatis cerneret formam, et suavitatis olentiam presentiret? 
Statim ad illius floris pulchritudinem considerationis oculum deflectebat, qui, 
lucidus in vernali tempore de radice Iesse progrediens ad odorem suum suscitavit 
innumera millia mortuorum.” Thom. Cel. I, n. 81. 

50. “‘Tubet hortulanum indefossos limites circa hortum dimittere, ut suis tem- 
poribus herbarum viror et florum venustas praedicent speciosum omnium rerum 
Pater. Hortulum in horto herbis odoriferis et florificis preecipit designari, ut in 


NOTES 509 


memoriam suavitatis zterne avocent speculantes.” Thom. Cel. ibid. “. 


ur: illius, qui dicitur flos campi et lilium convallium.” Spec. perf. ibid. 51. 
BILL 7. 

“Circa vermiculos etiam nimio flagrabat amore, quia legerat de Salvatore 
dictum: Ego sum vermis et non homo. Et idcirco eos colligebat de via, in tuto 
re loco, ne transeuntium vestigiis tererentur.” Thom. Cel. I, n. 80; cf. 

0105, 

53. “Quid de aliis inferioribus creaturis dicam, cum et apibus in hieme, ne 
frigoris algore deficerent, vel sive optimum vinum faceret exhiberi? Quarum 
efficaciam operum et ingenii excellentiam ad Domini gloriam tanto preconio 
extollebat, ut diem unam plerumque in earum ceterarumque creaturarum laudi- 
bus consummaret.” Ibid. I, n. 80. 54. Johni, 29. 

55. “Sed in omni genere animalium speciali dilectione ac promptiori affectu 
agniculos diligebat, eo quod Domini nostri Iesu Christi humilitas in sacra Scrip- 
tura agno assimilatur frequentius et convenientius coaptatur.” Thom. Cel. 
ibid.n. 77. 56. Ibid. JI, n. 111. 57. Ibid. I,n. 77 sq. 58. Ibid. n. 70: 

59. Thom. Cel., Legenda ad usum chori ed. P. Eduardus Alenc. n. 7, p. 430. 

60. “Contemplatio est tanto eminentior, . . . quanto melius scit considerare 
Deum in exterioribus creaturis.” S. Bonav., Sent. lib. 2, dist. 23, a. 2, q. 3, 
concl., Opera II, 545 a. Similarly S. Thom. Aq. 2, 2, q. 180, a. 4. 

61. “Ad summum perfectionis apicem sanctus iste pertingens, columbina 
roe espe plenus omnes creaturas ad Creatoris hortatur amorem.”’ Thom. 

el. ibid. 

62. “Sicut enim olim tres pueri in camino ignis ardentis positi ad laudandum 
et glorificandum Creatorem universitatis elementa omnia invitabant, sic et iste 
vir, spiritu Dei plenus in omnibus elementis et creaturis Creatorem omnium et 
NE ahs glorificare, laudare et benedicere non cessabat.” Thom. Cel. 

nr 080% 

63. “Inauditz devotionis affectu complectitur omnia, alloquens ea de Domino 
et in laudem eius adhortans.” Ibid. II, n. 165. 

64. ‘‘Cumque florum copiam inveniret, ita predicabat eis et ad laudem eos 
dominicam invitabat, ac si ratione vigerent. Sic et segetes et vineas, lapides 
et sylvas, et omnia speciosa camporum, irrigua fontium, et hortorum virentia 
queeque, terram et ignem, aérem et ventum sincerissima puritate ad divinum 
monebat amorem et libens obsequium hortabatur.” Jbid. I, n. 81. 

65.5. bonay. Cc, Nn. 7. 00. ‘Thom: Cel!TE, n.168.% 67. Ibid Il, ne 17T: 68. 
Ibid. I, n. 58. 69. Iulian. a Spira ibid. 122. 

zo “Et propter multas consolationes, quas habuit et habebat in creaturis, 
parum ante obitum suum composuit quasdam laudes Domini de creaturis suis 
ad incitandum corda audientium eas ad laudem Dei et ut ipse Dominus in crea- 
turis suis ab hominibus laudaretur.” Spec. perf.c. 118. ‘‘Laudes de creaturis 
tunc quasdam composuit, et eas utcumque ad Creatorem laudandum accendit.” 
Thom. Cel. IT, n. 213. 71. Matth. xvii, 2. 72. Mal. iv, 2. 

73. This translation is taken from Fr. Paschal Robinson: The Writings of 
Saint Francis of Assisi, Dolphin Press 1906, p. 152. For the history of the 
origin of the Canticle of the Sun cf. Christen-Felder, Leben des hetligen Franziskus 
von Assisi, Innsbruck 1922, 397-406. 74. Spec. perf. c. 119. 75. Ibid. c. 100. 

76. Thom. Cel. II, n. 117; Spec. perf. c. 121. 

47. Spec. perf. c. 122. 123. 78. Ibid. c. 100. 

79. Harnack, Dogmengeschichte III, 3. Aufl., 382. 


INDEX 


Names of persons and places which are irrelevant to subjects 
treated are omitted. Likewise authorities which recur frequently 


(e.g. Thomas of Celano). 


A 


Adam of Marsh, 374. 

Agnes of Prague, 394. 

Alanus ab Insulis, 354, 499 ”. 

Albert of Pisa, 197, 222, 269. 

Albert the Great, 455”. 

Alexander II, 299. 

Alexander III, 490™. 

Alexander IV, 324, 338. 

Alms, as source of Franciscan 
livelihood, 142-155;—and the 
ancient Orders, 143ff.;—and 
the Gospel, 143; esteemed by 
Francis, 144-147; quest of— 
loved and practised by 
Francis, 143-147; recom- 
mended to the Friars, 147- 
150; manner of seeking, 140f.; 
when improper, 150-152 ;—and 
idleness, 152-154;—and the 
apostolate, 154f. 

Angela of Foligno, 479°. 
Angelus Clarinus, 366f., 376, 
495 *, 495 °°, 499 "". 
Angels, venerated by Francis, 
3998. 
Anonymus of Passau, on dis- 

respect toward the Eucharist, 
447 ™. 
Anselm of Canterbury, 339. 
Anthony of Padua, 55, 315, 322, 


337, 360. 
Apostles, Mission of, and 
Francis, 7, 79. 
Apostolate, Franciscan, 207- 


349; among the faithful, 298- 
311; among the infidels, 311- 


511 


317; of the sacrament of 
Penance, 321-325; of preach- 
ing, 325-347: of example, 
347-349 ;—and poverty, 87- 
89 ;—and prayer, 383ff. 

Apostolic life, 13ff., 302, 350. 

Apulia, journey of Francis to, 
4, 20. 

Aristotle, 340, 373f. 

Arms, bearing of—forbidden to 
Tertiaries, 2092f. 

Augustine, St., 130, 153, 460 ®. 

Augustinians, 14ff., 204, 290f. 


B 


Banditry and feudal 
2891 

Bees and Francis, 421. 

Begging, See Alms, Quest of 
alms, Mendicatio. 

Benedict of Nursia, 14-16, 19, 
224, 208f., 460 ®. 

Benedictines, 130f., 
2981., 460 ®. 

Bernard of Clairvaux, 392. 

Bernard of Quintavalle, 7, 79, 
84, 97, 121, 202, 303, 304. 

Berthold of Regensburg, 338f., 
343, 447". 
Birds, sermon to the—425. 
Bishops, reverence of Francis 
toward—58-60. 
Blessed Sacrament, See Eu- 
charist. 

Bonaventure, St., on the daily 
celebration of the Mass, 445°; 
love of Francis for the 


system, 


204, 224, 


512 


Eucharist, 55; on the houses 
of the Order, 111, 112, 460%; 
on movable goods in the mon- 
asteries, 114; on _ sandals, 

"4567"; on the labor of the 
Friars, 140, 459; on begging, 
TAS S151, 1 54is;10n ithe, ac- 
tivity of Friars as preachers 
and confessors, 324f., 491°"; 
on studies in the Order, 350, 
357, 307, 377-379, 497°; on 
the devotion of Francis to 
Christ, 395f. 

Books, allowed to the Friars, 
114,03067-371. 

Brothers of penance, 214, 292ff. 
See Tertiaries. 

Brotherliness, Franciscan, 221- 
263; ideal of—243-249; prac- 
tised by Francis, 249-263. 

Buoncompagno, Rhetor of 
Bologna, 220. 

Burkard of Ursperg, 69, 123, 


456 = 464 2 
C 


Caesar of Speyer, 189. ; 
Canons Regular, See Augustin- 


ians. 
Canticle of the Sun, 230f., 426- 
420. 
Captivity of Francis, 3, 283, 288. 
Cathari, 41, 7of. 
Catholic Poor Men, 154, 300. 
Cella of Cortona, 277. 
Chaperon of novices, 117, 453”. 
Charity, Franciscan, 264-282. 
Chastity of Francis, 207-214; 
reserve toward women, 209- 


214. 

Chivalry of Francis, 2f., 19-37, 
253, 311f., 343, 346f. 

Christ and Francis, 19-37; and 
poverty, 9f., 89-92; service of 
Christ, 19-25; following of 
Christ, 25-28; love of—28-37, 
406; adoration 0f—-392-396, 
406. 

Christmas and Francis, 30f. 

Church and Francis, 56-73. 


INDEX 


Churches of the Order, ıııf. 

Churches restored by Francis, 
4of. 

Cistercians, 95, 130, 204, 4567*. 

Clara’ 018 Assist. 64," 2121.) 240, 


319. 
Siete and Francis, 41-44, 56- 


58. 
Clerics, not obliged to manual 
labor, 140f.; obliged to study, 


355 ff. 
Clothing of Francis, 117f., 118f. ; 
of the Friars, 115-117. 
Cluniacs, 130, 4567, 460 ®, 
Columba, St., 223f., 208. 
Communion, Holy, and Francis, 


30. 

Confessors, See Penance. 

Contemplation of Francis, 381- 
386, 405f.; as affective piety, 
406f.; as immediate union 
with God, 406f.; as love and 
praise of God, 407-412. 

Conversion of Francis, 1-6, 32, 
75-80. 

Corporal punishments, 223f. 

Creatures as Brothers and 
Sisters | of Francis, Mists 
docile to Francis, 417f.; Cf. 
Love of Nature. 

Crescentius of Jesi, 375. 

Cricket and Francis, 424f. 

Crisis of the Order in 1219-20, 
63. 

Cross and Francis, 32-37. 

Crusaders and Francis, 264, 3II- 
314; and poverty, 84, 88. 


D 


Damiano, San, apparition of 
cross, 32, 301; restored by 
Francis, 40; Francis throws 
away money at—77; Bernard 
despoils himself at—ı21f. 

Dante Alighieri on Francis, 78, 
82f, O1, 353. 

David of Augsburg, 305. 

Dominic, St., and Francis, 299, 


PER 


INDEX 


Dominicans, 154, 2998. , 337, 355, 


363, 374, 452", 456 ™ 
Duns Scotus, 55. 


E 


Educated Friars, See Clerics. 

Education of Francis, 350-353. 

Elias of Cortona, 140, 315, 363. 

Elisabeth, St, of Thuringia, 
270f., 281, 294. 

Eucharist and Francis, 38-55; 
focus of his religious life, 38- 
40; his zeal for things related 
t0o—40-44; and apostolic ac- 
tivity, 44-54; reverence to- 
ward—recommended by 
Francis to princes, 47f.; to 
the clergy, 48-50; to the 
Friars, 50-52; eucharistic mis- 
sion of his Order, 52-55. 

Exhortation, form of preach- 


ing, 325-320. 
F 


Falcon and Francis, 424. 

Fasting, 225f. 

Feudal conditions and Francis, 
287-289. 

Feudal system, 289-291. 

Fire and light cherished by 
Francis, 420. 

Fishes, loved by Francis, 416. 
ollowing of Christ and 
Francis, 25-28, 253. 

Food, regulations in the Rule, 
225f. 

France, predilection of Francis 
for—39. 

Friars Minor, why so called, 
1731, 289, 464”. 


G 


Germany, first coming of Friars 
to—149, 484%. 

Giacoma de Settesoli, 213f. 

Gilbert of Tournay, 286f. 

ee SY 24 109, 133-135, 
1901., 1931., 260, 303, 304, 315, 
326f., 408. 


513 


Gospel as Ideal of Francis, 1- 
18; in relation to his Order, 
13-15; its significance, 15-18; 
daily reading of —18, 39; taken 
and observed literally by 
Francis, 7, 16ff.; and poverty, 
83-88; and humility, 166ff.; 
and simplicity, 199ff. 

Greccio, Christmas celebration 
at—31; Easter at—115; her- 
mitage at—4I5. 

Gregory IX, 64f., 102, 127f., 
294, 323, 330, 337f., 358, 363, 
368. 

Sun Bishop of Assisi, 59, 77f., 
285. 


H 


Hare and Francis, 415f. 

Haymo of Faversham, 322. 

Heathens, missions among—311- 
317, 335f. 

Hermitages and Francis, 385f.; 
and the first Franciscans, 386. 

Hermits and Francis, 16. 

Hildegarde, St., against the 
Cathari, 70. 

Holy See, love of Francis for— 
8, 61-70. 

Honorius III, 129, 154, 293, 337, 


344, 363, 387. 
Houses of Friars (loca), ııof. 
Hugolino, Protector of the 


Order, 62f., 363; his friend- 
ship for Francis, 63, 146, 173; 
co-editor of the Rule, 110. 

Humbertus de Romanis, 16, 266, 
poe 479”, 488%, 491°, 
496 °. 

Humiliati, 300, 335. 

Humility, Franciscan, 166-185 ; 
its character, 172-174; prac- 
tised by Francis, 174-183; of 
the first Friars, 185; instruc- 
tions by Francis on—165-174; 
—and office of preaching, 
1691. ;—and learning, 167, 169, 
371;—of superiors, I7I-172; 


514 


—and poverty, 166;—and 
simplicity, 198 


I 


Illness of Francis, 230f. _ 

Innocent III and Francis, 8, 
61f., 71, 81, 88, 06, 141, 158f., 
300, 305, 318, 323, 328, 331, 
334, 335, 355- 

Itinerant preachers, 300, 336f., 


355. 


Jacques de Vitry on Francis 
and the first Friars, 16, 107f., 
109, 123, 133, 151, 160, 233, 

m200; 6 3151.5 0327, 402, 464%, 
4 4%, 148 

James “the Simple, ” 203, 268. 

John Colonna, Cardinal, 8, 61, 


305. 

Tor de Plano Carpinis, ‚485 2 
John of Parma, 376, 496 *. 
John of Rupella, 375. 
John Parenti, his decrees on the 

eucharistic cult, 55. 
John “the Simple,” 203. 
Jongleurs, See Troubadours. 
Jordan of Giano, 190, 233, 260f., 


342. 

Joseph Plantanida of Ferno, 
author of Forty Hours’ De- 
votion, 55. 

Joy, Franciscan, 227-242; as 
natural temperament of 
Krancis ge inves Wat 
spiritualized after his con- 
version, 228f.; fundamental 
note of his life, 229-232; of 
his Order, 232-235; joy in 
God, 236-240; in poverty, 
236-238; in suffering, 239- 
241; joy and trust in Provi- 
dence, 165; and prayer, 233. 

Juniper, Brother, 203. 


K 


Knighthood of Christ, 19-37, 
ar 227-229, 253, 300f., 311, 
408. 


INDEX 


Knighthood and worship of 
womanhood, 

Knights, Orders of, 19. 

Knights, Legends of—and 
Francis, 19, 24f., 311f. 

Rep of the Round Table, 
24f. 


L 


Labor as source of livelihood, 
129-142, 152-154; in the older 
Orders, 120f.; as practised by 
Francis, 131f.; and alms, 152- 
155. 

Labor, manual, 
on clerics, 140f. 

Labor, mental, in the older 
Orders, 130; in the Francis- 
can Order, 140-143; as title to 
livelihood, 142. 


not obligatory 


Laborers, F riars as—137-139, 
143f. 
Laudes Dei, 410-412. Cr. 


Canticle of the Sun. 

Lay Brothers (conversi) in the 
older Orders, 130, 138-140; 
in the Franciscan Order, 206; 
and manual labor, 131-142; 
and studies, 355f. 

Learning, See Science, Educa- 
tion. 

Leo, Brother, 239-241, 256, 306f., 
368, 369, 370, 442”, 506 

Lepers, care of—6, 126, 
264-270. 

Literary work of Friars, 141, 
363£. 

Livelihood, Franciscan, 120-165. 

Lord’s Prayer and Francis, 403- 
405. 

Louis IX, 270, 281, 294. 

Love of Francis for God, 407f.; 
for Christ, 28-37; for the 
Eucharist, 38-55; for Mary, 
396-399; for the angels and 
saints, 399f.; for the brothers, 
249-259; for the poor, 74, 
76f., 89, 271-282; for the sick, 
6, 126, 131, 252f., 264-271; for 


131, 


INDEX 


all men, 259-263; for nature, 
413-429. 

Love of God, 4071. 

Luchesius, 280f. 


M 
Maiores, 2881. 


Martyrdom, desire of Francis 
for—23. 


Mary and Francis, 396-399, 
407. 

Mass, attended daily by Francis, 
39; Mass of the Blessed 


Virgin, 504 ". 

Masseo, Brother, 157, 203. 

Matthew of Paris, 265, 350, 
ASS RAT 

Mendicatio, meaning of term, 
143; twofold purpose, 154f. 
Cf. Alms, Begging. 

Michael, Archangel, revered by 
Francis, 399. 

Minister General, his qualities, 


196. 

Minister Provincial, his quali- 
ties, 196. 

Minores Fratres, See Friars 
Minor. 

Minores, as class of society, 
288f., 464°. 

Minstrels, See Troubadours. 

Missions among infidels, 311- 
317, 3351. 


Monasteries, See Houses. 

Monasticism and Francis, 13-15. 

Monetary system, 120f. 

Money as alms forbidden, 
462". 

Money question and Francis. 

Moroccan Martyrs, 129, 315. 

Moroccan Mission, I6I, 315. 

Movable goods, their use, 
—and poverty, 115-118. 

Music in the earliest Francis- 
can Order, 234f. 


114; 


Mystical Marriage (Sacrum 
Commercium  b.  Franctsci 
cum Domina Paupertate), 


450 ®, 


515 
N 


Nativity of Christ and Francis, 
See Christmas. 

Nature, Francis’ love of—413- 
429; is essentially religious, 
413f.; springs from love oi 
God, 414; leads to God, 419- 
423; love of all creatures, 


423. 
Nicholas III, 368. 
Nicholas of Reno, 197f. 
N oe of Tusculum, Cardinal, 


Nicholas “the Humble,” 
Norbert of Xanten, aan 


O 


Oath of fealty forbidden to 
Tertiaries, 292f. 

Obedience, Franciscan, 186-198; 
demands perfect submission, 
1911.; in all things, 192; under 
all circumstances, 193; at all 
times, 194; practised by 
Francis, 187f.; of the first 
Friars, 188-191: ; shown to all, 
194; preferable to prayer, 
1931. ; obedience and superiors, 
195-198 ;—and humility, 186. 

Odo de Sully, 354. 

Office, Divine, 401-403; of the 
lay brothers, 403f.; of the 
Passion, 393 f.; of the Blessed 
Virgin, 306. 

Order, foundation of, 7f., 7off. 


P 
Pacificus, Brother, “King of 
Verses,” 346f. 


Paschal Baylon, Patron of eu- 
charistic works, 55. 

Passion of Christ and Francis, 
31-37, 220f., 303f.;—and the 
Franciscans, 394-396. 

Paulinus of Nola, 153. 

Peace movement promoted by 
Francis and the Friars, 283- 
296. 


516 


Peace, preaching 0f— 284-287. 

Penance, practise of—214-226; 
as practised by Francis, 214- 
‘219; by the first Friars, 219- 
221; should be combined with 
prudence, 221-223; its norm 
is the Gospel, 223-226. 

Penance, preaching of — 214, 
302f., 331-335. 

Penance sacrament of, as ad- 
ministered by the Friars, 322- 


325. 

Peter and Paul, Sts., revered 
by Francis, 400. 

Peter d’Ailly, 499 ®. 

Peter Bernardone, 78, 145, 215, 
227: 

Peter Cantor, 359, 499 ®. 

Peter Catanii, 7, 79, 100, 187, 
313, 361. 

Peter de Vineis, 481 ™. 

Peter John Olivi, 376. 

Peter the Venerable, 460%. 

Peter Waldus, 71, 300, 335. 

Pheasant and Francis, 415. 

Philosophy, study of—in the 
Order, 372-370. 

Pica, mother of Francis, 227. 

Piety of Francis, 380-412. Cf. 
Contemplation, Prayer. 

Plague-stricken nursed by the 
Friars, 270. 

Poor Clares, 211ff. Rule of— 
12. 

Poor, love and relief of the— 
74, 76, 89, 271-282, 450°. 

Poor Men of Lombardy, 71. 

Poor Men of Lyons, 71, 300. 
See Peter Waldus. 

Portiuncula: final calling of 
Francis, 7; restored by 
Francis, 41; model of poverty, 
100f., III; meeting point of 
Friars, 104, 132, 305; first 
chapters held at—ı06f. Cf. 
123, 382, 424. 

Poverty, bride of Francis, 76, 
78; his espousals with—78; 
his love of—8off.; basis of 
evangelical perfection, 84-87; 
of the apostolate, 87-89; of 


INDEX 


knighthood of Christ, 89-93; 
poverty of Jesus and Mary, 
92, 396f.; poverty and faith in 
Providence, 155-164; poverty 
and humility, 166;—and 
obedience, 186;—and joy, 
236f.;—and science, 366-371. 
See Alms, Labor, Ideal of 


poverty. ' 
Poverty, Ideal of—, in ancient 
Orders, 94-96;—of St. 


Dominic, 452*;—of Francis 
demands complete renuncia- 
tion, 94-104;—and moderate 
use of things, 104-119. 

Poverty, love of, 74-93;—in- 
born in Francis, 74f.;—en- 
couraged by revelation and 
grace, 83ff.;—cherished by 
Francis, 78', 83, 89f.; recom- 
mended to the brothers, 861.; 
—and knighthood of Christ, 
8of. 

Praise of God, 407-412, 426-429. 

Prayer as title to livelihood, 
142 ;—and studies, 371f., 378f.; 
life of prayer, 381-388; prac- 
tises of prayer, 388-405; 
spirit of prayer, 405-412. 

Preachers and humility, 16of.; 
their qualities, 329-331; ex- 
amination of—330f.; preach- 
ing and science, 353-366; and 
prayer, 384f. 

Priesthood revered by Francis, 
41-44; 56-59, 77. 

Privileges, Papal, 175. 

Providence, trust of Francis in, 
155-164. 

Psalterium gallicanum adopted 
by Francis, 505 *, 

Purity of Francis, 2. 


R 


Razzardo di Rocca Pazza, 269. 

Renunciation of the world, 98- 
IOI. 

Riches despised by Francis, 2. 


INDEX 


Riding forbidden to the Friars, 
114. 

Rieti, 135, 161, 278, 416. 

Rivo Torto, 106, 220, 329. 

Rizzerio, Brother, 256. 

Robbers received kindly by 
Francis, 261f. 

Robert of Arbrissel, 300. 

Robert Grosseteste, 359, 374. 

Roger Bacon, 339, 342f., 358, 
364, 374, 492 "°. 

Roger of Wendover, 151, 350, 
469°, 488°, 493%. 

Rolandsage, 24, 311f. 

Roman Church and Francis, 8, 
61-73, 8of. 

Rome, journey of Francis to— 
77; with the eleven Friars, 8, 
80 


Rufino, Brother, 203. 

Rules of St. Francis: primitive, 
8f., 11, 80f., 136;—of 1221, 
9-11, 12, 110, 116, 127f., 137f., 
152, 224f.;—of 1223, 10-12, 
1102. 1701.9.127 00713711, ee, 
356f.;—of Poor Clares, 12 ;— 
of Third Order, 12f. 

Rupert of Deutz, 298. 


S 


Saints, devotion of Francis to— 
3998. 

Sandals, originally not in use, 
456%, 

Santi Quattro, convent of—135. 

Saracens, missions among—312- 
316. 

Sarziano, hermitage of—217. 

Schools, Franciscan, 360f. ;—and 
the apostolate, 365f.;—were 
mostly public, 498 *. 

Science, Franciscan, 350-379; 
—and apostolic life, 350-366 ; 
—and apostolic activity, 366- 
379;—and the rule, 356-360 ; 
—indispensable to preaching, 
353-361 ;—and poverty, 366- 
371;—and humility, 167f., 


517 


169f., 371f.;—and simplicity, 
204f.;—and piety, 372ff., 379; 
—profane sciences and their 
relation to theology, 373-379. 
Sermon, Franciscan, 297-320, 
325-349; exhortatory form, 
325-328; formal discourse, 
328ff.; dogmatic—337-343; 
content of—331-343; method 
of, 343-347 ;—delivery, 343- 
347 ;—preaching and example, 


347-349 ;—and science, 354- 
366 ;—and prayer, 387f. 
Sheep and Francis, 421-423, 


424. 

Shoes allowed by necessity, 117. 

Sick, care of—6, 126, 131, 252f., 
264-270. 

Simplicity and humility, 198 ;— 
contrary to the spirit of the 
world, 198f.;—is the spirit of 
Christianity, 199 ;—cherished 
by Francis, 199-202; and by 
his disciples, 203f.;—char- 
acteristic of the Order, 204- 
206 ;—and learning, 204f., 371; 
—and the lay brothers, 206. 

Social reform achieved by 
Francis, 287-296. 

Spiritual friends of the Friars, 
127. 

Spirituals, their hostility to 
studies, 376. See Ubertinus, 
Angelus Clarinus. 

Stephen de Bourbon, 4ıf. 

Stigmatization of Francis, 35f., 


37. 

Studies, See Schools, Science. 

Submissiveness of Francis, 174ff. 

Superiors and humility, 171f.; 
—and their subjects, 195-198, 
243 ;—are the servants of the 
brothers, 106-198;—are to 
show mercy to all the brothers, 
257-250. 

Swallows and Francis, 414f. 

Sylvester, Brother, 121, 289, 
303, 319. 

Si visited by Francis, 109, 
IOI. 


518 
At 


Teaching, office of—in the 
Order, 141, 362-369. 
Tertiaries, I2f. 270, 280-282, 
292-295. 
Theology, See Science. 
Third Order, See Tertiaries. 
Thomas of Aquinas, 290f. 
Thomas of Spalato, 292, 492 
Treuga Dei, Franciscan, 206. 
Trinity, devotion of Francis to 


125 


— 388-392. 
Troubadours and Francis, 1, 
227, 242, 345-347, 428. 


U 


Übertinus of Casale, 369-371, 
376, 388, 497, 499”, 501'*, 

Urban II, 290. 

Use of temporal things, 
119. 

Utensils of the Friars, 114f. 


103- 


INDEX 


Sea’? 
Vocation of Francis, 4-8, 20-23, 
771. 
Vows, 87f. 
W 


Waldenses, 71, 89, 154, 354. 
Walter of Gisburne, 15, 498 ™. 
Walter Mapes, 354f. 
Wandering preachers, 299f., 337, 


3548. 
Water, loved by Francis, 420. 
Wealth, despised by Francis, 2. 
William of Esseby, 190. 
William of St. Amour, 324, 356, 
461 8 o1 
Wolf of Gubbio, 416f. 
Womanhood and knighthood, 90. 
Worms and Francis, 421. 


Z 


Zeal for souls of Francis, 317- 
320. Cf. Apostolate. 


PRINTED BY BENZIGER BROTHERS, NEw York 








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